Image processing system and camera

ABSTRACT

An image processing system which performs photography of the teeth of a patient while causing a plurality of illumination light LEDs of different wavelengths to emit light by means of a photography device when producing a crown repair or denture of the patient, whereby image data are acquired. The image data are transmitted to a dental filing system constituting a processing device where color reproduction data are determined through computation. In addition, color reproduction data are transmitted to the dental technician&#39;s office via a public switched network. A repair material compound ratio calculation database is searched and compound data for a material that matches the hue of the patient&#39;s teeth is retrieved, so that a crown repair or denture or the like that very closely matches the color of the patient&#39;s teeth can be produced.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a Divisional Application of U.S. applicationSer. No. 11/486,455 filed Jul. 13, 2006, which is a continuationapplication of PCT/JP2005/000783 filed on Jan. 21, 2005 and claimsbenefit of Japanese Application No. 2004-016264 filed in Japan on Jan.23, 2004, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by thisreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image processing system and camerathat acquire a spectroscopic spectral image information on an object,and perform highly accurate color reproduction, examination, andjudgment and so forth on an image of the object from the acquired imageinformation.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in health and anincreased need for whitening due to the pursuit of beauty.Conventionally, diagnoses using skin diagnosis cameras have beenprovided in dermatology, esthetic salons, and beauty counseling and soforth. In the case of dermatology in particular, counseling that graspscharacteristics from an image of skin grooves and hills and so forth isperformed as diagnosis of the skin surface. Further, the abovementionedskin diagnosis camera has been proposed by Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid Open No. H8-149352, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No.H7-322103 and the like.

On the other hand, with respect to restoration of a dental crown in adental treatment, conventionally a color grade judgment is performed bymeans of a comparison with the color of the patient's teeth by means ofa shade guide when determining the color of the tooth that is to berestored.

Although accurate color reproduction is determined in each fieldincluding dermatology and dentistry as mentioned earlier, the systemdisclosed by Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-152269 as aconventional highly accurate color reproduction system applies a camerathat captures an image of an externally illuminated object by means of amultisprectral. In this system, a multiplicity of rotatablespectroscopic filters are used for a highly accurate estimate of theobject spectroscopic spectral and multiple band data are acquired as aresult of the rotation of the filters to allow high color reproductionto be implemented.

A variety of other techniques have been proposed as techniques foracquiring spectroscopic images.

A device for capturing a multiband image through time division by usinga rotating filter that is constituted of a plurality of optical bandpassfilters placed in a row on the circumference appears in Japanese PatentApplication No. H9-172649, for example.

Furthermore, a device that easily performs multiband photography byusing a filter (comb-shaped filter) that multiply divides aspectroscopic wavelength band appears in Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid Open No. 2002-296114.

In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2003-087806mentions a constitution of a multisprectral camera that is capable ofphotographing images of a multiplicity of bands at the same time byintegrating a color filter array of six bands or more with asingle-panel CCD.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2003-023643 mentionsa constitution of a multisprectral camera that is capable ofphotographing images of six bands by means of 3-panel CCDs by using ahalf mirror and a dichroic mirror.

For the abovementioned dermatology, dentistry and other fields in whichaccurate color reproduction is sought, a contribution to examination,confirmation and discrimination and the like is required through strictcolor reproduction of the paint color of an automobile, the paint colorof a building, the spectroscopic characterization of a foodstuff, andthe dye of a garment, and so forth, for example. Further, these devicesare also required to be small and lightweight and handy for the sake ofexamination operability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention, a camera is provided whichcomprises a photography optical system that forms an object image, animage pickup element section that outputs an image signal by picking upthe object image formed by the photography optical system, and aphotography operation section that performs an image photography-relatedoperation. The camera is operable in a plurality of image capture modesthat capture an image of the object in a plurality of different aspects,wherein the plurality of image capture modes includes a spectroscopicimage mode in which a spectroscopic image of the object is captured. Andthe photography operation section comprises a photographic range settingsection which sets a photographic range of the object.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the constitution of the imageprocessing system of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C show LED disposition examples and constitutionalexamples of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are a line diagram showing a CCD spectroscopicsensitivity characteristic and an LED light-emission spectral, as wellas the spectroscopic characteristic of the CCD spectroscopic sensitivitycharacteristic and LED light-emission spectral, of the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the light emission ofeach LED in 6-band spectroscopic image acquisition and the imageacquisition of the image pickup element of the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing an aspect of the operation of the lightemission of each LED in the 6-band spectroscopic image acquisition andthe image acquisition of the image pickup element of the firstembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a line diagram showing the band characteristic of each framein the 6-band spectroscopic image acquisition of the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the light emission ofeach LED and the image acquisition of the image pickup element inmonitor image acquisition of the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing an aspect of the operation of the lightemission of each LED and the image acquisition of the image pickupelement in monitor image acquisition of the first embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a line diagram showing the band characteristic of each framein the monitor image acquisition of the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 shows an example of a method of turning on the LEDs when threeeach of LEDs of six primary colors are provided in the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of an attachment portion that isconstituted so that the same can be attached to and detached from theprojection opening of the enclosure of the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a constitution in which colorreproduction is performed for a display on a display of the processingdevice of the first embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a constitutional example forperforming object-related image discrimination on the basis of anacquired object spectroscopic image of the first embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a constitutional example in which aninput profile is generated by the processing device in the firstembodiment;

FIG. 15A to FIG. 15C show a display example of the LCD monitor of thephotography device of the first embodiment;

FIG. 16 shows an example of an aspect when the image processing systemof the first embodiment is used;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the constitution of the imageprocessing system in a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18A and FIG. 18B show timing charts that show reading aspects infull mode and reading two-speed mode in the second embodiment;

FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B show aspects of lines read in 2/4 line two-speedmode and 2/8 line four-speed mode in the second embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart that shows an operation when a photography modeis set in the second embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing the constitution of an imageprocessing system of a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 shows an example of an aspect when the image processing systemof the third embodiment is used;

FIG. 23 is a line diagram showing an LED light emission spectral and aCCD spectroscopic sensitivity characteristic after being passed througha color filter array of the third embodiment;

FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B are a line diagram showing a spectroscopiccharacteristic of a spectroscopic image for each frame when a 6-bandspectroscopic image is generated in the third embodiment;

FIG. 25 is a line diagram showing a spectroscopic characteristic of aspectroscopic image for each frame when a monitor image is generated inthe third embodiment;

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing the operation of the light emission ofeach LED and image acquisition of an image pickup element in the 6-bandspectroscopic image acquisition of the third embodiment;

FIG. 27 is a timing chart showing an aspect of the operation of thelight emission of each LED and image acquisition of an image pickupelement in the 6-band spectroscopic image acquisition of the thirdembodiment;

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing the operation of the light emission ofeach LED and image acquisition of an image pickup element in the monitorimage acquisition of the third embodiment;

FIG. 29 is a timing chart showing an aspect of the operation of thelight emission of each LED and image acquisition of an image pickupelement in the monitor image acquisition of the third embodiment;

FIG. 30A and FIG. 30B are a line diagram showing an LED light emissionspectral when an 8-band spectroscopic image is generated and a CCDspectroscopic sensitivity characteristic after being passed through acolor filter array in the third embodiment;

FIG. 31A to FIG. 31C are a line diagram showing a spectroscopiccharacteristic of a spectroscopic image for each frame when an 8-bandspectroscopic image is generated in the third embodiment;

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing the operation of the light emission ofeach LED and the image acquisition of the image pickup element in the8-band spectroscopic image acquisition of the third embodiment;

FIG. 33 is a timing chart showing an aspect of the operation of thelight emission of each LED and the image acquisition of the image pickupelement in the 8-band spectroscopic image acquisition of the thirdembodiment;

FIG. 34 is a line diagram showing a spectroscopic characteristic of aspectroscopic image for each frame when a monitor image is generated inthe third embodiment;

FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing the operation of the light emission ofeach LED and the image acquisition of the image pickup element in themonitor image acquisition of the third embodiment;

FIG. 36 is a timing chart showing an aspect of the operation of thelight emission of each LED the image acquisition of the image pickupelement in the monitor image acquisition and of the third embodiment;

FIG. 37 is a block diagram showing the constitution of the imageprocessing system of a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 38 shows an example of an aspect when an image processing system inwhich a plurality of spectral detection sensors are installed is used inthe fourth embodiment;

FIG. 39 is a sectional view of a constitutional example of a spectraldetection sensor of the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 40 is a sectional view of an aspect of the entrance end of anoptical fiber that is connected to the spectral detection sensor of thefourth embodiment;

FIG. 41 is a sectional view of a constitutional example in which asensor optical system is installed in the vicinity of the entrance endof the optical fiber that is connected to the spectral detection sensorof the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 42 is a sectional view of an aspect of the entrance end of theoptical fiber that is connected to the spectral detection sensor that isprovided for ambient light acquisition in the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 43 is a system constitutional view of a dental image processingsystem of a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 44 is a block constitutional view of a photography device that isadopted as the dental image processing system in FIG. 43;

FIG. 45 shows the constitution of an image processing system of a sixthembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 46 is a block constitutional view of the image processing system inFIG. 45;

FIG. 47 is a flowchart of a photography standby processing routine inthe photography processing of the photography device of the imageprocessing system in FIG. 45;

FIG. 48 is a flowchart of a photography routine in the photographyprocessing of the photography device of the image processing system inFIG. 45;

FIG. 49 is a block constitutional view of the image processing system ofa seventh embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 50A and FIG. 50B show states when a regular reflection object isilluminated with LED light of each color by means of the photographydevice of the image processing system in FIG. 49, where FIG. 50A showsthe disposition of the regular reflection object, the LEDs of each colorand the CCD during image formation and FIG. 50B shows an image with aregular reflection part;

FIG. 51 shows an object image in which a regular reflection part existsbeing caused by illumination by LEDs of each color that is formed on theCCD when the regular reflection object is illuminated with LED light ofeach color by the photography device of the image processing system inFIG. 49 and an object image rendered by deleting the regular reflectionpart from the object image with the photography device of the imageprocessing system;

FIG. 52 is a flowchart of the regular reflection part deletionprocessing performed by the photography device of the image processingsystem in FIG. 49;

FIG. 53 is a block constitutional view of the image processing system ofan eighth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 54 shows a reflection state of light on the regular reflectionobject in a case where a regular reflection object is photographed bythe photography device of the image processing system in FIG. 53;

FIG. 55 is a block constitutional diagram of the image processing systemof a ninth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 56 is a front view of a second polarizing plate that is disposed infront of the CCD in the photography device of the image processingsystem in FIG. 55;

FIG. 57 is a block constitutional view of the image processing system ofa tenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 58A and FIG. 58B show an aspect before correction of the state of ashading performed by an LED light source of the photography device ofthe image processing system in FIG. 57, wherein FIGS. 58A and 58B showthe shading states of different LEDs;

FIG. 59A and FIG. 59B show an aspect following correction of the stateof a shading performed by an LED light source of the photography deviceof the image processing system in FIG. 57, wherein FIGS. 59A and 59Bshow the shading correction states of each of the different LEDs;

FIG. 60 is a block constitutional view of the image processing system ofan eleventh embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 61 shows the disposition of LED light source sections of thephotography device in the image processing system in FIG. 60;

FIG. 62 is a block constitutional view of an image processing systemwhich is a twelfth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 63 is a block constitutional view of an image processing systemwhich is a thirteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 64 is a block constitutional view of an image processing systemwhich is a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 65 is a system constitutional view of an image processing systemwhich is a fifteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 66 is a block constitutional view of an image photography sectionthat is applied to an image processing system which is a sixteenthembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 67 is a block constitutional view of a photography device that isapplied to an image processing system which is a seventeenth embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 68 shows a state of a medical examination by an image processingsystem which is an eighteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 69 shows a state of a medical examination by an image processingsystem which is a nineteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 70 shows an example of a camera shake alarm display of the firstembodiment;

FIG. 71 shows a display example of a foot switch connection mark of thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 72 shows a display example of a mike connection mark of the firstembodiment;

FIG. 73 shows a display example of a LAN connection mark of the firstembodiment;

FIG. 74 shows a display example of data transfer in progress mark of thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 75 shows a display example of battery remaining mark of the firstembodiment;

FIG. 76A and FIG. 76B show a first display example of a capture mode andmonitor mode of the first embodiment;

FIG. 77A and FIG. 77B show a second display example of the capture modeand monitor mode of the first embodiment;

FIG. 78A and FIG. 78B show a third display example of the capture modeand monitor mode of the first embodiment;

FIG. 79A and FIG. 79B show a fourth display example of the capture modeand monitor mode of the first embodiment;

FIG. 80 shows an example in which various states are displayed in thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 81A and FIG. 81B show an aspect of a close-up photography mode inthe first embodiment;

FIG. 82A and FIG. 82B show an aspect of a nearby photography mode in thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 83A and FIG. 83B show an aspect of a face photography mode in thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 84 shows an aspect in which a capture mode is provided in the firstembodiment;

FIG. 85 shows a display example of a positioning guide in the firstembodiment;

FIG. 86 shows a display example of an illumination light source lightingmark in the first embodiment;

FIG. 87 shows an aspect in which an operating step is displayed in thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 88 shows an aspect in which the progress status of the operation isdisplayed in the first embodiment;

FIG. 89 shows an example of a light leakage alarm display in the fourthembodiment;

FIG. 90A and FIG. 90B show an example of a display related to themounting of an illumination unit in the sixth embodiment;

FIG. 91 shows an example in which only an ‘illumination optical system’is a detachable unit in the sixth embodiment;

FIG. 92 shows an example in which a detachable unit is constituted byintegrating an ‘LED constituting a light source’ and an ‘illuminationoptical system’ in the sixth embodiment;

FIG. 93 shows an example in which a detachable unit is constituted byintegrating an ‘LED constituting a light source’, an ‘illuminationoptical system’, and a ‘photography optical system’ in the sixthembodiment;

FIG. 94 shows an example in which a detachable unit is constituted byintegrating an ‘LED constituting a light source’, an ‘illuminationoptical system’, a ‘photography optical system’, and an ‘image pickupelement’ in the sixth embodiment;

FIG. 95 shows an example in which it is possible to detachably couple aseparate attachment adapter to the leading end of the unit as shown inFIG. 94, in the sixth embodiment;

FIG. 96 shows an example in which the inserted state of a polarizingplate is displayed on the display means in the eighth embodiment;

FIG. 97 shows an example in which the light emission of infrared raysand ultraviolet rays that is applied to the twelfth and thirteenthembodiments respectively is displayed;

FIG. 98 shows a display example of a measurement mode in a seventeenthembodiment;

FIG. 99 shows a display example of a measurement mode in the firstembodiment; and

FIG. 100 shows a display example of a high speed reading mark in thesecond embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinbelow withreference to the drawings.

First Embodiment

FIGS. 1 to 16, 70 to 88, and 99 show a first embodiment of the presentinvention and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the constitution of animage processing system.

This image processing system is constituted comprising a photographydevice 1 that is capable of photographing an object spectroscopic imageby illuminating the object with illumination light of a plurality ofdifferent wavelength bands that are mutually independent in the range ofvisible light, and a processing device 2 that is connected to thephotography device 1 and which processes an object spectroscopic imagethat is output by the photography device 1, wherein the processingdevice 2 is constituted such that the same can be connected to a network3 if required.

In this embodiment, the photography device 1 is capable of performing:image pickup in which an installed light source is put in anillumination light lighting mode in order to use the same in thespectroscopic image acquisition, illumination light (illumination lightof six primary colors) of wavelength bands of six types is sequentiallyirradiated onto an object, and six object spectroscopic images arecaptured as still images; and image pickup in which the object iscaptured as a moving image of the frame sequential method by selectingone or more illumination lights each from the illumination light of sixprimary colors to produce RGB illumination light of three colors andthis RGB light is sequentially irradiated.

Further, the illumination lighting mode is not limited to the modesdetailed above. There exist a variety of modes, such as a full colorcontinuous lighting mode, a selectively sequential lighting mode, and aone-color continuous lighting mode. The image processing system can beset in these modes.

The photography device 1 is constituted comprising an enclosure 5 thatcomprises a projection opening 5 a applying illumination light(described subsequently) to an object and for introducing reflectedlight reflected from the object; an attachment section 4 that isdetachably attached to the projection opening 5 a side of the enclosure5 and which is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape by a flexibleelement that serves to block light so that external light does not mixwith the illumination light that is projected onto the object via theprojection opening 5 a; first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f which arelight-emitting elements that are built into the enclosure 5 and whichemit illumination light to illuminate the object as a result of beingturned on; a photography optical system 7 for forming an object imagethat is irradiated by the first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f built into theenclosure 5, a CCD 8 constituting image pickup elements that arecontained in an image pickup element section that outputs an imagesignal by picking up the object image that is formed by the photographyoptical system 7; an A/D converter 9 that converts the analog signaloutput from the CCD 8 into a digital signal; a memory 11 thattemporarily stores an object spectroscopic image that is output from theA/D converter 9 and transferred via a bus 10 (described subsequently),and which is also used as a work area by a CPU 18 (describedsubsequently); an operating switch 14 constituting mode selection meanswhich is a photography operating section comprising a variety ofoperating switches and operating buttons and so forth that allow theuser to make inputs to indicate the start of a spectroscopic imagephotography operation and to make inputs to indicate the start and endof a moving image photography operation; a camera control I/F 12 thattransmits instruction inputs from the operating switch 14 to the CPU 18(described subsequently) and which issues commands or the like relatedto controlling the light emission of the first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 faccording to the instructions from the CPU 18 and performs controlrelated to the image pickup operation of the photography device 1; anLED driver 13 that performs control related to a light emissionoperation such as light emission start timing and light emission endtiming of the first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f on the basis of aninstruction from the camera control I/F 12; a monitor I/F 15 thatperforms control to display moving images picked up by the CCD 8 andobject spectroscopic images (still images) stored in the memory 11 to anLCD monitor 16 (described subsequently); the LCD monitor 16, which isprovided as display means, is constituted to allow images output fromthe monitor I/F 15 to be displayed and to allow operating instructionsand displaying of states, the LCD monitor combining mode displayingmeans and set state display means; an external I/F 17 for outputting tothe processing device 2 object spectroscopic images stored in the memory11 and control data and so forth from the CPU 18 (describedsubsequently) or for inputting communication data from the processingdevice 2; a bus 10 that mutually connects the A/D converter 9, memory11, camera control I/F 12, monitor I/F 15, external I/F 17, and CPU 18(described subsequently) and so forth; a battery 20 a that isconstituted in a detachable form, for example; a supply circuit 20 bthat converts power supplied from the battery 20 a to a suitable voltageor the like before supplies this voltage or the like to each circuitdescribed earlier; and a CPU 18 constituting a control section thatcentrally controls the photography device 1 comprising each of thecircuits described earlier.

Further, the photography operation section is provided attached to thephotography device 1 and is generally operated by being pushed down bythe finger of one's hand. In such an operation, so-called ‘camera shake’sometimes occurs and a vivid image cannot be obtained. Hence, when amore accurate image is to be obtained, camera shake must be suppressedas far as possible.

As one means of suppressing camera shake, the following may beconsidered: camera shake of photography device 1 or blurring of aphotographed image is detected and a warning is issued when camerashake/blurring is detected, whereupon the user is urged to take therequired measures. That is, the following may be considered: camerashake detection means for detecting camera shake or the like, forexample, is provided, and, when it is judged by the camera shakedetection means that camera shake that is not suited to image processinghas occurred, the display means of the photography device 1 is used aswarning reporting means, and a camera shake alarm display 211 shown byway of example in FIG. 70 is executed.

FIG. 70 shows a camera shake alarm display example.

The operating switch 14 and LCD monitor 16 are disposed in an operatingpanel such as the one shown in FIG. 70, for example. The operatingswitch 14 comprises a plurality of switches 14 b and a photographicrange setting lever 14 c (described subsequently). Marks 205, 206, and207 showing a capture mode (described subsequently) that is changed inaccordance with the operation of the photographic range setting lever 14c are provided above the photographic range setting lever 14 c.

Furthermore, a display area 201 that displays an image of the object isprovided on the LCD monitor 16 and a capture mode that is provided bythe photographic range setting lever 14 c is displayed as a mark 202 onthe top left, for example, of the display area 201. In addition, anillumination light source lighting mark 242 (described subsequently) isdisplayed if required on the top right, for example, of the display area201. Further, the camera shake alarm display 211 is displayed ifrequired in the center, for example, of the display area 201.

As a result, the photographer is able to photograph again or take camerashake countermeasures that employ an external operation section such asa foot switch 213 as will be described subsequently, whereby imageprocessing can be performed by acquiring unblurred images.

That is, as one means of solving camera shake, means that eliminatecamera shake of the photography device 1 by performing a photographyinstruction operation or the like by means of a remote operation from anexternal operation section that is remote instruction means disposed ina location other than that of the photography device 1. Morespecifically, as shown in FIG. 71, drawing an operating switch functionvia a cable 214 from the photography device 1 to use the function on thefoot switch 213 may be considered. In this case, by displaying a mark215 or the like that indicates that a foot switch has been connected onthe LCD monitor 16 constituting the display means of the photographydevice 1, it may be made clear that the foot switch 213 is available.FIG. 71 shows a display example of a foot switch connection mark. As aresult, the operation can be performed stably without worry of producingcamera shake.

Furthermore, a remote operation input is not limited to being made bythe foot switch 213 and may also be made by a speech input, for example.That is, the following may be considered: As shown in FIG. 72, theconstitution may be such that a microphone 216 constituting speechinstruction means which is an external operation section is connectedvia a cable 217 to the photography device 1 and speech is input from themicrophone 216. In addition, a speech recognition circuit or the like isprovided in the photography device 1, an operation that is indicated byrecognizing the speech thus input is interpreted, and the operation isperformed. In this case, by displaying a mark 218 or the like indicatingthat the microphone 216 has been connected on the LCD monitor 16constituting the display means of the photography device 1, it may bemade clear that the microphone 216 is available. Here, FIG. 72 shows adisplay example of a microphone connection mark.

In addition, when the location in which the photography device 1 is usedis subject to unfavorable conditions for humankind such as altitude andso forth, the location can also be switched for control via a networkfrom an external operation section constituting remote instruction meansdisposed in a remote location. So too in this case, in order to make itclear that a remote operation is available, a mark 219 to that effectmay be displayed on the LCD monitor 16 constituting the display means ofthe photography device 1. The mark or the like that is displayed at suchtime may more explicit state that such a remote operation is via anetwork, as shown by way of example in FIG. 73. FIG. 73 shows a displayexample of the LAN connection mark. That is, the example shown in FIG.73 is one in which the mark 219 indicates that the network is aso-called local area network (LAN). Further, here, operationconfirmation means for confirming the operation of the photographydevice 1 is desirably provided in the external operation section. Asmeans for confirming the operation, confirmation via a display on amonitor or the like may be considered but such means is not limited tothis means of confirmation. Confirmation via a lit lamp or speech or thelike can also be adopted. In addition, photographic data confirmationmeans for confirming the photographic data of the photography device 1may be provided in the external operation section. Display means such asa monitor is basically adopted as the photographic data confirmationmeans in this case.

In addition, the photography device 1 is constituted to be able totransfer all or a portion of the information displayed on the LCDmonitor 16 constituting the display means, that is, the mode relateddisplaying information and state related displaying information, forexample, to the processing device 2 and other external device asadditional data of the image data.

The processing device 2 is a personal computer or the like, for example,and is constituted comprising a computation device 21 that receives anobject spectroscopic image that is output from the external I/F 17,calculates XYZ tristimulus values by using an input profile that will bedescribed subsequently, and generates a display signal from which adisplay 22 (described subsequently) may obtain substantially the sameXYZ tristimulus values as the XYZ tristimulus values that are estimatedwhen the object is supplied by using a display profile from the XYZtristimulus values; a display 22 that displays highly accuratecolor-reproduced images by means of the display signal that is output bythe computation device 21; and, although not particularly illustrated, anetwork interface or the like for a connection to the network 3.

Further, during data transfer, a data transfer in progress mark 221 asshown in FIG. 74, for example, is displayed on the LCD monitor 16constituting the display means in order to make data transfer stateclear. FIG. 74 shows a display example of the data transfer in progressmark. Naturally, the display indicating that data transfer is inprogress is not limited to the display shown in FIG. 74.

Further, the photography device 1 and processing device 2 may beconnected through wire or may be connected wirelessly via Bluetooth or awireless LAN or the like, for example, or may be integrated with oneanother.

The photography device 1 is constituted to comprise the battery 20 a asshown in FIG. 1. The battery 20 a is not necessarily required because itis possible to receive a supply of power when the photography device 1is connected by fixed wire, but may be said to be more or less essentialwhen the photography device 1 is connected wirelessly (however, theextent to which the battery 20 a is essential would be somewhatalleviated should technology to supply power wirelessly that is beingdeveloped be put to practical use). Hence, it is important to know tothe extent of the current battery remaining amount of the battery 20 awith respect to the battery remaining amount (that is, the batterycapacity) when the battery is fully charged. A mark 222 that indicatesthe battery remaining amount is displayed on the LCD monitor 16constituting the display means as shown in FIG. 75, for example, forthis purpose. FIG. 75 shows a display example of the battery remainingamount mark. In this example, the fact that the battery is 100% chargedis indicated by a picture of the battery or text. Here also, the displayof the battery remaining amount is not limited to the display shown inFIG. 75. Furthermore, the information relating to the battery 20 a isnot limited to the battery remaining amount. Other information may alsobe displayed.

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are a line diagram showing the spectroscopicsensitivity characteristic of the CCD 8 and the light emission spectralof the LEDs 6 a to 6 f and the spectroscopic characteristic of both thespectroscopic sensitivity characteristic and the light emissionspectral.

The first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f, which are light-emitting elements,have different independent light emission spectrals as shown in FIG. 3Ain such a manner that the light of the first LED 6 a indicated by thecurve fL1 is blue with a tinge of violet, for example, the light of thesecond LED 6 b indicated by the curve fL2 is blue with a tinge of green,for example, the light of the third LED 6 c indicated by the curve fL3is green with a tinge of blue, for example, the light of the fourth LED6 d indicated by the curve fL4 is green with a tinge of yellow, forexample, the light of the fifth LED 6 e indicated by the curve fL5 isorange, for example, and the light of the sixth LED 6 f indicated by thecurve fL6 is red, for example.

Further, in the illustrated example, the respective light emissionspectrals of the first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f are completely separatedwithout overlapping one another. However, light emission spectrals aportion of which overlaps are acceptable. Naturally, the types of LEDare not limited to six types. A combination of LEDs of a suitable numberof types can be adopted.

Here, it is possible to adopt, as the spectral arrangement of theillumination light emitted by the respective LEDs, any of an equalwavelength interval (peaks, for example, stand in a line at equalintervals in the wavelength direction), an equal wavelength ratiointerval (peaks or the like stand in a line at fixed ratio intervals inthe wavelength direction), a specific arrangement for a specific purpose(peaks or the like stand in a line in a specific arrangement in thewavelength direction in keeping with the specific purpose), a specificwavelength color multiplication setting (peaks or the like stand in aline in the wavelength multiplication position with a specificwavelength serving as the fundamental wavelength), a specified polarizedcolor arrangement (the respective light components represented by thepeaks that stand in a line in the wavelength direction are polarized ina specific direction), and light disposition outside the visible range(light that is represented by peaks that stand in a line in thewavelength direction reaches areas outside the visible range). Theillumination light spectral arrangement best suited to the intended usemay be selected.

Furthermore, here, although LEDs, which are semiconductor light-emittingelements of high brightness that are small and lightweight, relativelyinexpensive, and easily obtained, are used as the light-emittingelements. However, the light-emitting elements are not limited to LEDs.Other light-emitting elements such as LDs (laser diodes) or othersemiconductor lasers, for example, and other light-emitting elements canalso be used.

Meanwhile, in this embodiment, the CCD 8 uses a monochrome-type CCD andthe sensor sensitivity substantially covers the visible light range asindicated by the curve fS in FIG. 3A. Further, although a monochrome CCDis used as the image pickup element here, the image pickup element isnot limited to a monochrome CCD. As will be mentioned in subsequentlydescribed embodiments, a color-type CCD may be used but the image pickupelement is not limited to a CCD. A CMOS-type image pickup element orimage pickup elements of a variety of other types can be widely used.

Further, the spectroscopic sensitivity characteristics when an image ofan object illuminated by the first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f is receivedby the CCD 8 are as per the curves fSL1 to fSL6 shown in FIG. 3B, forexample. The wavelength-induced difference in the total spectroscopicsensitivity characteristic is electrically processed downstream orcorrected as an input profile related to the photography device 1.

Furthermore, FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C show LED disposition examples andconstitution examples, and so forth.

FIG. 2A shows an example in which the first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 fconstituted of primary colors of six types are sequentially arranged inthree sets (three of each color) in a ring shape. Further, theillustrated arrangement order is only represents one example. Thearrangement order is not limited to this arrangement order. An optionalarrangement such as reverse order or a random arrangement is widelyapplicable.

Subsequently, FIG. 2B shows an example in which a plurality oflight-emitting sections 6A are arranged in a ring shape and the first tosixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f are arranged such that primary colors of six typesare included in the respective light-emitting sections 6A. Although allsix primary colors are arranged in one light-emitting section 6A in theillustrated example, the arrangement is not limited to this arrangement.Six primary colors may be divided among a plurality of light-emittingsections 6A such as an arrangement with three primary colors in eachlight-emitting section 6A.

In addition, FIG. 2C shows an arrangement in which first ends 6Ba to 6Bfof a fiber bundle 6B are connected to the first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 frespectively and the other ends 6Bg are formed in a ring shape. As aresult, the illumination light that is emitted from the LEDs 6 a to 6 fenters the bundle fiber ends 6Ba to 6Bf. The bundle fiber ends arefurther constituted of a plurality of narrower fibers and the narrowfibers from the respective LEDs are mixed with one another in the bundlefiber exit section 6Bg such that a ring-shaped uniform light source isproduced and irradiated onto the object, whereby the effect of totalreflection caused by the object can be reduced.

Further, the LED arrangement is not limited to the example shown in FIG.2A to FIG. 2C and, as long as a given arrangement supports the imagepickup by the CCD 8, any suitable arrangement can be adopted such as aring-shaped arrangement, a cross-shaped arrangement, arectangular-shaped arrangement, a random arrangement, a lateral (orvertical or opposite) arrangement, a parallel arrangement, and amultiple point arrangement.

The two types of image acquisition mode that the photography device 1has will be described next.

The image acquisition modes that can be adopted by the photographydevice 1 are monitor mode and capture mode.

The monitor mode displays images on display means such as the LCDmonitor 16 in order to determine the photographic range with respect tothe object and so forth.

Further, the capture mode is a mode that acquires required object imagedata. In this capture mode, not only is it possible to acquire aspectroscopic image (spectroscopic image capture mode), moving images,normal RGB images (RGB capture mode) and frame photographic images andso forth can also be acquired.

As mentioned earlier, the photography device 1 can pick up images suchas moving images which are normal RGB images and still images which areobject spectroscopic images of six primary colors permitting highlyaccurate color reproduction. Moving images are picked up in monitormode, which acquires images for monitor use and still images are pickedup in spectroscopic image capture mode within capture mode that capturesimage data.

These two modes, that is, monitor mode and capture mode are constitutedsuch that these modes are switched by pressing a photography button 14 a(See FIG. 16) which is a push-type button switch contained in theoperating switch 14.

That is, the monitor mode is automatically set by first turning on thepower supply switch or similar and the object image is displayed on theLCD monitor 16 as a moving image. In this state, the part of the objectfor which a spectroscopic image is to be shot is sought and thephotography device 1 is positioned. Thus, by pushing the photographybutton 14 a (See FIG. 16) at the moment when the object part to bephotographed is introduced to the image pickup range and positioning isperformed, the monitor mode is switched to the spectroscopic imagecapture mode and an object spectroscopic image is acquired as a stillimage.

The photography device 1 is constituted such that, after the objectspectroscopic image has been acquired, the photography device 1 revertsto the monitor mode and is then able to seek an object part of which aspectroscopic image is to be acquired next.

Further, the states of the respective modes are displayed on the LCDmonitor 16 constituting the display means as shown in FIG. 76A and FIG.76B. FIG. 76A and FIG. 76B show a first display example of the capturemode and monitor mode. That is, in monitor mode, a mark 225 of aso-called movie camera as shown in FIG. 76B is displayed on the LCDmonitor 16 and, in spectroscopic image capture mode, a mark 224 of aso-called still camera as shown in FIG. 76A is displayed on the LCDmonitor 16.

Further, the LCD monitor 16 for executing such a display is desirably acolor monitor but may also be a monochrome monitor.

Furthermore, the display means is not limited to an LCD and, althoughnot illustrated, display means capable of displaying image-relatedinformation such as an LED panel or EL panel, for example, are widelyapplicable.

The LCD monitor 16 is not limited to such a display and is also capableof executing other displays.

First, FIG. 77A and FIG. 77B show a second display example of capturemode and monitor mode. The example shown in FIG. 77A and FIG. 77B are anexample in which a picture of the still camera is shown, capably lit orunlit, as a mark 226 indicating capture mode and a picture of the moviecamera is shown, capably lit or unlit, as a mark 227 that indicatesmonitor mode. FIG. 77A shows a display example for when capture mode isadopted and FIG. 77B shows a display example for when monitor mode isadopted.

Thereafter, FIG. 78A and FIG. 78B show a third display example ofcapture mode and monitor mode. The example shown in FIG. 78A and FIG.78B are an example in which a picture of the still camera is displayedas a mark 228 that indicates capture mode and a picture of the moviecamera is displayed as a mark 229 that indicates monitor mode and inwhich LEDs 231 and 232 that indicate which mode has been selected aredisposed such that the same can be lit and unlit below the marks 228 and229. FIG. 78A shows a display example for when capture mode has beenadopted and FIG. 78B shows a display example for when monitor mode hasbeen adopted.

In addition, FIG. 79A and FIG. 79B show a fourth display example ofcapture mode and monitor mode. FIG. 79A and FIG. 79B are a type ofdisplay in which lamps of different colors are disposed and whichdisplays modes by means of the colors of lit lamps. FIG. 79A shows thatcapture mode has been adopted by turning on a yellow lamp 233, forexample. Further, FIG. 79B shows that monitor mode has been adopted byturning on an orange lamp 234, for example.

Additionally, the display is not limited to being executed by means ofmarks. For example, the display may also be executed by displaying textsuch as ‘monitor’ and ‘capture’, for example.

Further, in addition to the abovementioned modes, the remaining memoryamount can be displayed as a mark 236, the number of possiblephotographs remaining can be displayed as text 237, and the remainingusage time can be displayed as text 238, as shown in FIG. 80 by way ofexample, as items that are displayed on the LCD monitor 16 constitutingthe display means. Here, FIG. 80 shows an example that displays avariety of states. Further, such displays are similarly not limited tothe examples shown in FIG. 80.

Further, although not illustrated, by making additional settings, acolor reproduction display that uses the acquired spectroscopic imageand a display that results from an interpretation of the spectroscopicimage, and so forth, can be displayed on the LCD monitor 16 or thedisplay 22 immediately following the acquisition of the spectroscopicimage.

The operation of the spectroscopic image capture mode in the imageprocessing system will be described next with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the light emission ofeach LED in 6-band spectroscopic image acquisition and the imageacquisition of the image pickup element; FIG. 5 is a timing chartshowing an aspect of the operation of the light emission of each LED inthe 6-band spectroscopic image acquisition and the image acquisition ofthe image pickup element; FIG. 6 is a line diagram showing the bandcharacteristic of each frame in the 6-band spectroscopic imageacquisition.

When the photography device 1 is switched from monitor mode tospectroscopic image capture mode by pressing the photography button 14 a(See FIG. 16), it is judged whether to start spectroscopic-image imagepickup (step S1). The judgment operation need not be performed whenspectroscopic-image image pickup is started immediately by pressing thephotography button 14 a. However, when the photography button 14 a isconstituted of a two-stage-type push button, for example, and focaladjustment and exposure amount adjustment are performed in a firsthalf-pressed state and exposure is started in a second fully pressedstate, it is judged whether the photography button 14 a has been pressedin the second stage in step S1.

Thereafter, 1 is set as the variable n (step S2) and the nth LED isturned on (step S3). Here, the first LED 6 a is turned on in order tomake the setting n=1. The illumination light of the first LED 6 a isirradiated onto the object via the projection opening 5 a of theenclosure 5. Here, the attachment 4 is flexibly attached to the surfaceof the object and, in order to prevent the invasion of external light,only the illumination light from the first LED 6 a is cast onto theobject. The reflected light from the object is made to form an image onthe surface of the CCD 8 by the photographic optical system 7.

After the lighting of the first LED 6 a is started, the image pickup bythe CCD 8 or, more precisely, the accumulation of electrical charge, isstarted (See FIG. 5) (step S4).

The first LED 6 a is then turned off once the image pickup by the CCD 8has ended (step S5). Image data are read from the CCD 8, converted intodigital data by the A/D converter 9, and then stored in a predeterminedstorage area (nth memory: first memory here) in memory 11 via the bus 10(step S6). When a 6-band spectroscopic image is picked up, the storageareas from the first memory to the sixth memory are provided in memory11 and the respective spectroscopic images are sequentially held inthese storage areas.

Thereafter, n is incremented (step S7). Here, n is incremented from 1 to2.

It is judged whether n is 7 or more (step S8) and, because n is still 2here, the processing returns to step S3 and the second LED 6 b is turnedon, whereupon the operations from step S3 to step S7 mentioned above areperformed.

Thus, when the operations up to step S6 is ended by turning on the sixthLED 6 f when n=6, a 6-band spectroscopic image with the bandcharacteristic shown in FIG. 6 is acquired and saved in the memory 11.Further, n has reached 7 in the judgment of step S8 because of theincrement to n=7 in step S7, and the 6-band spectroscopic imageacquisition operation is ended.

Further, although not illustrated, the timing of the image acquisitionby the light-emitting elements (LED) and image pickup element (CCD) isnot limited to the timing mentioned earlier. The same results areobtained when the light-emitting elements are turned on after the startof image acquisition by the image pickup element and when the imageacquisition by the image pickup element is ended after thelight-emitting elements are turned off, or similar.

The operation of the monitor mode of the image processing system will bedescribed next with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9. FIG. 7 is a flowchartshowing the operation of the light emission of each LED and the imageacquisition of the image pickup element in monitor image acquisition,FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing an aspect of the operation of the lightemission of each LED and the image acquisition of the image pickupelement in monitor image acquisition, and FIG. 9 is a line diagramshowing the band characteristic of each frame in the monitor imageacquisition.

This monitor mode is a mode that acquires an RGB image as a moving imageby means of the frame sequential method by sequentially obtaining: fromthe illumination light of six primary colors of the first to sixth LEDs6 a to 6 f, a state in which the first LED 6 a and second LED 6 b thatcorrespond to a blue (B) category are turned on, a state in which thethird LED 6 c and fourth LED 6 d that correspond to a green (G) categoryare turned on, and a state where a fifth LED 6 e and sixth LED 6 f thatcorrespond to a red (R) category are turned on.

Further, although light emission primary colors are selected by assuminggeneral RGB image usage here, the selection is not limited to thatdetailed above. Other light emission primary colors suited to a specialapplication or the like can also be selected.

When the monitor mode is set by turning the power supply switch on ormonitor mode is restored by ending the spectroscopic image capture mode,the start of monitor-image image pickup is awaited (step S11).

Here, image pickup is immediately started and 1 is set as the variable n(step S12). The nth LED and n+1th LED are turned on (step S13). Here,the first LED 6 a and second LED 6 b are turned on in order to make thesetting n=1.

After the lighting of the first LED 6 a and second LED 6 b has started,image pickup by the CCD 8 is started (see FIG. 8) (step S14).

The first LED 6 a and second LED 6 b are turned off once image pickup bythe CCD 8 has ended (step S15), whereupon image data are read from theCCD 8, converted into digital data by the A/D converter 9, and stored ina predetermined storage area (nth memory: first memory here) in thememory 11 via the bus 10 (step S16).

Thereafter, n is incremented by 2 (step S17). Here, n is increased from1 to 3.

It is judged whether n is 7 or more (step S18) and, because n is still 3here, the processing returns to step S13, whereupon the third LED 6 cand fourth LED 6 d are turned on and the operations from step S13 tostep S17 are performed.

As a result, n=5 and the processing returns to step S13, whereupon thefifth LED 6 e and sixth LED 6 f are turned on. When the operations up tostep S16 are complete, RGB images of the band characteristics shown inFIG. 9 are acquired in the order B, G, R and saved in the first memory,third memory, and fifth memory respectively of the memory 11. It is thenjudged that n is 7 in the judgment of step S18 because n has beenincremented to n=7 in step S17.

Thus, after the RGB image has been acquired, the processing returns tostep S11 and it is judged whether the next RGB image has been acquired.When monitor mode is subsequently set, the next RGB image is acquiredand, by successively repeating this process, an RGB moving image can beobtained.

Further, although not illustrated, the timing of image acquisition bythe light-emitting elements (LED) and image pickup element (CCD) is notlimited to the timing mentioned earlier. The same results are obtainedwhen the light-emitting elements are turned on after the start of imageacquisition by the image pickup element and when the image acquisitionby the image pickup element is ended after the light-emitting elementsare turned off, or similar.

Thus, the image data that is stored in the memory 11 is subsequentlyread and converted into an image signal for a monitor display is outputto the LCD monitor 16 via the monitor I/F 15 and is displayed on the LCDmonitor 16. Further, a display can also be executed on the display 22 ofthe processing device 2 by changing the settings of the image processingsystem.

Further, in order to secure the intensity of illumination here, LEDs ofsix primary colors are divided into twos to form groups which are threeelement clusters, that is, an R element cluster, a G element cluster,and a B element cluster. However, the LED light emission is not limitedto such clusters. Light emission may be executed for each single colorin which the first LED 6 a is made to emit light for B (blue), the thirdLED 6 c is made to emit light for G (green) and the fifth LED 6 e ismade to emit light for R (red), for example. Here, the spectroscopiccharacteristics of the LEDs may be selected to suit the RGB lightemission.

In addition, a monitor display can be performed at high speed byacquiring a monochrome monitor image by turning on only one or aplurality of LEDs of a specific primary color.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a method of turning on the LEDs when threeeach of LEDs of six primary colors are provided.

Light-emitting modes (LED light-emitting modes) include, by way ofexample, a case where all LEDs are turned on, a case where only one LEDof one primary color is turned on individually, a single primary colorlighting case where three LEDs are turned on for one primary color, acase where LEDs of six primary colors are turned on individually, a casewhere six LEDs belonging to blue (B), for example, among eighteen LEDsof six primary colors are turned on, a case where six LEDs belonging togreen (G), for example, among eighteen LEDs of six primary colors areturned on, a case where six LEDs belonging to red (R), for example,among eighteen LEDs of six primary colors are turned on, a case wherethree LEDs belonging to blue (B), for example, among eighteen LEDs ofsix primary colors are turned on, a case where three LEDs belonging togreen (G), for example, among eighteen LEDs of six primary colors areturned on, a case where three LEDs belonging to red (R), for example,among eighteen LEDs of six primary colors are turned on. Thus, elementclusters grouped by color can be made to emit light at the same time andelement clusters grouped by position can be made to emit light at thesame time.

Further, when an image of an object is picked up, the photography device1 of this embodiment can be used with contact or contactlessly. However,in order to perform accurate color reproduction on the image, it isnecessary to ensure that the image does not suffer the effects of lightother than that produced by the photography device 1.

Therefore, when an image of the object is picked up contactlessly,external light illumination must be switched off.

Here, the photography areas when the object is photographed are varieddepending on the application field. However, when the photographic areasof capture modes are classified from a general standpoint, a broadclassification into a full capture mode in which the whole of the objectis photographed and a partial capture mode in which a relevant point isphotographed may be considered.

When dentistry is taken as an example of one application field, examplesof images found in the field of dentistry include three types of image,namely, an image of one to three teeth, a full jaw image, and acomplexion image. The requirement for such images is to confirm thenature of the treatment and the treatment result or for the purpose ofbeing effectively used for the informed consent of the patient.Therefore, this photography device 1 is constituted so that capturemodes that correspond with these images can be set. That is, the capturemodes that can be set for the photography device 1 are as shown in (1)to (4) below.

(1) One to Three Teeth Image Mode (Partial Capture Mode)

This mode is a mode (close-up photography mode) that takes an enlargedphotograph of a tooth for observation of the status of an affected areaor the status before and after treatment, as shown in FIG. 81A and FIG.81B. FIG. 81A and FIG. 81B show an aspect of the close-up photographymode. Here, because a color evaluation is also important, this is a modethat performs color reproduction by acquiring an image by means of theabove method in order to perform color reproduction highly accurately.Here, as shown in FIG. 81A, the photographer takes photographs as closeas possible to the object and the results are displayed on the display22 of the processing device 2 and also displayed as shown in FIG. 81B onthe LCD monitor 16.

(2) Full Jaw Image Mode (Full Capture Mode)

As shown by way of example in FIG. 82A and FIG. 82B, this mode is a modethat takes a full jaw photograph in order to confirm the balance betweenthe treated tooth and the other teeth (nearby photography mode). FIG.82A and FIG. 82B show an aspect of the nearby photography mode. Theillumination system is constituted to be off in this mode. In this case,although there is not necessarily a need for high color reproduction, ifrequired, such photography is made possible by connecting a high colorreproduction light source unit shown in FIG. 60, for example. Here, asshown in FIG. 82A, the photographer performs photography pretty close tothe object and the results are displayed on the display 22 of theprocessing device 2 and also displayed as shown in FIG. 82B on the LCDmonitor 16.

(3) Complexion Image Mode (Full Capture Mode)

As shown in FIG. 83A and FIG. 83B, this mode is a mode (complexionphotography mode) that takes a complexion photograph for observation ofthe balance of the whole face. FIG. 83A and FIG. 83B show an aspect ofthe facial photography mode. The illumination system is constituted tobe off in this mode. Here, as shown in FIG. 83A, the photographerphotographs the object from a suitable distance and the results aredisplayed on the display 22 of the processing device 2 and alsodisplayed as shown in FIG. 83B on the LCD monitor 16.

(4) Whole Body Image Mode (Full Capture Mode)

Although not illustrated, this mode is a mode that takes a photograph ofthe whole body for observation of the balance of the whole body. Here,the photographer takes a photograph a fair distance apart from theobject and the results are displayed on the display 22 of the processingdevice 2 and also displayed on the LCD monitor 16.

The image obtained by the partial capture mode (that is, mode (1)) amongthe modes above is a spectroscopic image and the image obtained by thefull capture modes above (that is, modes (2) to (4)) is a normalphotographic image. With regard to the illumination light when thenormal photographic image is acquired, the illumination light source maybe unlit because the general indoor light can be used. That is, in thisexample, the illumination light source is turned on only in the partialcapture mode and the illumination light source is turned off in fullcapture mode.

Further, the photography device 1 need not deal with the setting of allthe modes (1) to (4). The setting of two or more modes is acceptable.

The constitution and operation and so forth for setting three modes (1)to (3) among modes (1) to (4) above will be described next (that is, aconstitution that allows three modes (1) to (3) to be set will bedescribed by way of example here).

FIG. 84 shows an aspect in which a capture mode is set.

In the example shown in FIG. 84, the photographic range setting lever 14c that constitutes the photographic range setting means is provided asmeans for setting one capture mode among a plurality of capture modes.

This photographic range setting lever 14 c is constituted to performsetting through the operation of the lever that is made to slidemanually in a lateral direction, for example. Further, the photographicrange setting lever 14 c is constituted directly linked to the focusadjustment lever for adjusting the focus lens of the photography opticalsystem 7 or work with relation to the focus adjustment lever.

The photographic range setting lever 14 c may be constituted to bepositioned in a predetermined position by means of a notch mechanism orthe like when operated manually. Further, the photographic range settinglever 14 c may be constituted directly being linked to a focusing lenswithout the intervention of the focus adjustment lever or to work with afocusing lens.

In addition, focus adjustment and a zoom operation or the like may beperformed manually (manual setting means) or may be performedautomatically (automatic setting means).

Examples of automatic operations include remote adjustment/operation asrepresented by remote medical care or the like. Here, in an applicationassuming a certain fixed procedure, the following may be considered: themeasurement area is changed automatically in accordance with theprogress of the procedure, or focus adjustment is performedautomatically so that the focal position is in a predetermined position,the focal position is automatically detected by an automatic focusadjustment mechanism, and the focal position is moved to this position,or similar.

Marks 205, 206, and 207 indicating the corresponding capture modes areadded to the top side, for example, of the photographic range settinglever 14 c. Here, mark 205, which corresponds to the one to three teethimage mode of (1) above is displayed on the left side of thephotographic range setting lever 14 c. Mark 206, which corresponds tothe full jaw image mode of (2) above is displayed in the center of thephotographic range setting lever 14 c. Mark 207, which corresponds tothe complexion image mode of (3) above is displayed on the right side ofthe photographic range setting lever 14 c. Further, although marks aredisplayed as setting markers, such markers are not limited to marks.Text may be displayed, for example.

In addition, the capture mode that is set by the photographic rangesetting lever 14 c is displayed as mark 202 on the top left, forexample, of the display area 201. In this example, a mark of the samedesign as that of any of marks 205, 206, and 207 is displayed as mark202.

Furthermore, in dentistry, a comparison before and after treatment isessential. Hence, a photograph must be taken before treatment and aftertreatment, for example. However, the photographed size and position andso forth of the treated part to be photographed are sometimes changedeach time a photograph is taken. Therefore, without further measures,reliability on an effective evaluation or on a confirmation of theresults of treatment drops because of the substantial difficultiesinvolved in comparing images. In order to avoid this, accuratepositioning is important each time a photograph is taken. In thisembodiment, as shown in FIG. 85, a positioning guide 241 constitutingguide display means is displayed on the monitor (LCD monitor 16 or thelike) constituting photographic range display means and providesassistance when performing positioning. FIG. 85 shows a display exampleof the positioning guide. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 85, thepositioning guide 241 constituting guide means is rectangular but is notlimited to being rectangular. The guide means may be a full jaw-shapedline, or means that accurately display the position of the photographicrange by using text or marks can be widely applied, for example. In amore highly accurate case, a positioning judgment may be performed byexecuting image processing or the like that compares the monitor imagewith the previous image constituting the comparison target and thenissuing an instruction such as ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘forward’,‘backward’ to the photographer on the basis of the judgment result.

In addition, although not illustrated, distance information resultingfrom determining the range by means of an AF (autofocus) mechanismconstituting autofocus means is recorded as image additional data.Distance information on the distance to the object may be acquired fromadditional data for the previous image and the photographer may beinstructed to equalize the distance to the object currently beingphotographed with the previous distance.

Furthermore, automatic settings to perform photography in any of modes(1) to (4) above, that is, to perform automatic settings for thephotographic range may be performed on the basis of the distanceinformation acquired from the AF mechanism.

A capture mode that corresponds to photographic ranges of three typeshas been described by taking the field of dentistry as an example here,but capture modes are not limited to dentistry. Rather, capture modesthat correspond to a plurality of photographic ranges can be similarlyset in other fields. The photographic ranges here may naturally beconsidered to be photographic ranges of different types with those ofthe field of dentistry, depending on the field. The same mechanisms andoperations and so forth as those described earlier can also be appliedto such photographic ranges of different types.

As mentioned earlier, the illumination light source of this system isconstituted to adopt the states lit/unlit upon a mode change. The stateslit/unlit of the illumination light source are displayed as theillumination light source lighting mark 242 on the LCD monitor 16constituting the display means as shown in FIG. 86 and the display canbe visually confirmed. FIG. 86 shows a display example of theillumination light lighting mark. Further, as mentioned earlier, thelit/unlit states of the illumination light source are not limited tobeing displayed by the LCD monitor 16. Other means can also be used.

Furthermore, the built-in illumination light source is generallyconstituted to be unlit when an external light source is connected (thatis, the illumination light source operates upon the attachment anddetachment of an external light source). However, when necessarydepending on the status of the object, the built-in illumination lightsource may be lit instead of the external light source or together withthe external light source.

Further, the illumination light source is constituted such that, whenthe photography operation that is performed by the image photographysection is a photography operation in which a spectroscopic image is tobe acquired, the on/off operation of the illumination light source canbe desirably switched.

Furthermore, a light-shielding characteristic can be secured because theattachment section 4 formed in a substantially cylindrical shape can beflexibly attached to the object as described earlier when an object thatcan be photographed with contact such as a coated surface, skin surface,or neighboring image (See FIG. 1). The shape of the attachment section 4may differ depending on each of the applications for securing thelight-shielding characteristic and on each object.

For use in a contact-type application, the attachment section 4 is adetachable and disposable member as shown in FIG. 11 for the sake ofpreventing the transfer of dirt when the object is a coated plate or thelike, for example. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the attachmentportion 4 that is constituted such that the same can be attached to anddetached from the projection opening 5 a of the enclosure 5.

The attachment section 4 can be constituted of a heat-insulatingmaterial in cases where the object is a high-temperature orlow-temperature object, can be constituted of an insulating material incases where the object is of a material that bears static electricity oris an electrically conductive electrical object, can be constituted ofan insoluble material when the object is immersed in a solution, and aglass window or the like for receiving the reflected light produced bycasting the illumination light can be formed. Because the attachmentsection 4 is a single detachable part, the attachment section 4 can beeasily constituted in a variety of shapes by a variety of materials. Inaddition, an observation window or similar that can be opened and closedcan also be easily provided in the attachment section 4 in order toobserve the surface of the object with the naked eye.

Further, this embodiment can also be used in the examination anddiscrimination of specific applications by using a specific one orplurality of primary colors among the plurality of primary colorsemitted by the LEDs.

The color reproduction of the processing device 2 will be describednext.

The object spectroscopic image recorded in the memory 11 by the imagepickup operation of the photography device 1 mentioned above istransmitted to the processing device 2 via the external I/F 17, recordedin the image memory section 32 (See FIG. 12) built into the processingdevice 2, and color reproduction and image processing and so forth areperformed by the computation device 21 that operates by means ofpredetermined software. The processing results are displayed on thedisplay 22 of the processing device 2 or transferred to and displayed onthe LCD monitor 16.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a constitution in which colorreproduction is performed for displaying on the display 22 of theprocessing device 2.

The processing device 2 is constituted comprising an image distributionsection 31 that distributes the storage area in the image memory section32 depending on whether the object spectroscopic image that is inputfrom the photography device 1 is illuminated by any of the first tosixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f; an image memory section 32 that comprises firstto sixth memories 32 a to 32 f which are storage areas that respectivelystore object spectroscopic images distributed by the image distributionsection 31; and a color reproduction processor section 33 that reads theobject spectroscopic images stored in the image memory section 32 andcalculates and outputs display image data for displaying an image thathas undergone highly accurate color reproduction on the display 22, theforegoing image distribution section 31, image memory section 32, andcolor reproduction computation section 33 being contained in thecomputation device 21 shown in FIG. 1, for example, and furthercomprising the abovementioned display 22, which displays the image thathas undergone highly accurate color reproduction on the basis of thedisplay image data output by the color reproduction computation section33.

The color reproduction computation section 33 is constituted comprisingan input profile storage section 33 b that stores a profile related tothe photography device 1; an XYZ estimation computation section 33 athat reads the object spectroscopic images respectively stored in thefirst to sixth memories 32 a to 32 f of the image memory section 32 andgenerates image data of XYZ tristimulus values by performing estimationcomputation by using the input profile that is stored in the inputprofile storage section 33 b and an internally set predeterminedcolor-matching function; a display profile storage section 33 d thatstores a profile related to the display 22, and a display valueconversion section 33 c that generates display image data that is to beoutput to the display 22 by performing computation by using the imagedata of the XYZ tristimulus values estimated by the XYZ estimationcomputation section 33 a and the display profile stored in the displayprofile storage section 33 d.

The input profile stored in the input profile storage section 33 bappears in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2000-341499, forexample, and is calculated on the basis of: the characteristics andsettings and so forth (image input device) of the photography device 1that include the spectroscopic sensitivity of the CCD 8 used in theimage pickup; spectral data on the illumination light when the object isphotographed (photographic illumination light information); spectraldata for the illumination light at the point where the display 22 forobserving the generated object spectroscopic image is installed(observation illumination light information); information such as thestatistic profile of the spectroscopic reflectance of the photographedobject (object characteristic information), and the like.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a constitutional example in which aninput profile is generated by the processing device 2.

The input profile may be generated by the processing device 2 on thebasis of respective data acquired by the photography device 1 as shownin FIG. 14.

Data acquired by the photography device 1 includes, by way of example,illumination light spectral data, camera characteristic data, objectcharacteristic data, and so forth.

The illumination spectral data is spectral data related to illuminationwhen an object undergoes image pickup, for example, and is spectral dataof the respective LEDs 6 a to 6 f that are contained in the photographydevice 1 in the case of a contact-type application. In the case of acontactless application, spectral data for external illuminationnecessary when an object is photographed is also included.

The camera characteristic data is constituted comprising variouscharacteristics such as characteristics of the photographic opticalsystem 7 including focus values and so forth, the image pickupcharacteristic of the CCD 8, the shutter speed, and the iris value.

The object characteristics are constituted of spectroscopic statisticaldata and so forth when the object is a tooth, skin, or a coatingmaterial, for example, and, in order to create a highly accurate inputprofile, an object designation signal for designating the object may beinput by providing the operating switch 14 or the like to an objectdesignation operation section.

The processing device 2 for creating an input profile on the basis ofthe data is constituted comprising an input profile computation section33 e, which generates an input profile by performing computation byreading the illumination spectral data, camera characteristic data, andobject characteristic data, and an input profile storage section 33 b,which stores the input profile generated by the input profilecomputation section 33 e, as shown in FIG. 14.

As a result of such a constitution, highly accurate color reproductioncan be performed adaptively by changing the photography device 1connected to the processing device to a photography device of adifferent individual or model and so forth (change in the photographicoptical system 7), by changing the ambient lighting for performing thephotography, or by making various changes to the object constituting thephotographic target.

Furthermore, the display profile stored in the display profile storagesection 33 d is calculated on the basis of information such as the colorvalues of the display primary color values of the display 22 (RGBprimary color values when the display 22 is an RGB monitor, for example)and the tone curve of the display 22, and so forth. Further, the displaymay use a color reproduction system of a multiplicity of primary colorsas described in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2000-338950.

Further, FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a constitutional example forperforming object-related image discrimination on the basis of anacquired object spectroscopic image.

The object spectroscopic images respectively stored in the first tosixth memories 32 a to 32 f of the image memory 32 are displayed on thedisplay 22 as a result of being read by the image discriminationcomputation section 34, object-related image discrimination beingperformed, and the judgment results being output. The constitution mayalso be such that image discrimination computation may be performed viaa network and the results displayed on the LCD monitor 16.

The image discrimination computation section 34 is constitutedcomprising a discrimination function storage section 34 b that stores adiscrimination function for performing a variety of object-relatedclassifications/judgments and so forth, and a discrimination computationsection 34 a that calculates the discrimination results by using thediscrimination function to compute all six object spectroscopic imagesthat are respectively stored in the first to sixth memories 32 a to 32 fof the image memory 32 or one or more object spectroscopic imagesselected from among the six object spectroscopic images, and whichgenerates discrimination result display image data for displaying thejudgment results on the display 22.

Further, various substitutions can be made for the discriminationfunction depending on the application of the image processing system.Hence, the discrimination function storage section 34 b is constitutedof a rewriteable storage medium or recordable storage medium and thediscrimination function used in accordance with the application may bewritten or rewritten. Specific examples of the discrimination functioncan include, by way of example, a function for performing processing asappears in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open H7-120324.

The image discrimination computation section 34 shown in FIG. 13 may beprovided in the processing device 2 instead of the color reproductioncomputation section 33 shown in FIG. 12. Alternatively, the processingmay be executed simultaneously in parallel by providing the imagediscrimination computation section 34 in the processing device 2together with the color reproduction computation section 33 shown inFIG. 12, or processing may be performed by selectively switching onlythe required section 33 or 34.

Thereafter, FIG. 15A to FIG. 15C show a display example of the LCDmonitor 16 of the photography device 1. The LCD monitor 16, for example,can be used as the display monitor, but the display monitor is notlimited to the LCD monitor 16. An EL panel or LED panel or the like mayalso be used. In addition, the display monitor may be either amonochrome display or a color display.

The LCD monitor 16, for example, constituting the display means isinstalled at the top of a grasp section 5 b on the rear face side of theenclosure 5 of the photography device 1 and displays the imagesdisplayed in FIGS. 15B and 15C and so forth, as shown in FIG. 15A, forexample. Further, here, an example in which an image of hands is pickedup as the object is shown.

First, FIG. 15B shows an aspect where a moving image that is picked upby means of the monitor mode is displayed and, as a result, the LCDmonitor 16 functions as a finder.

Thereafter, FIG. 15C shows an aspect that displays the discriminationresult of the object image by the image discrimination computationsection 34, for example. Here, the ID number of the object (patientnumber and so forth of the diagnostic support system in the field ofdentistry, for example) and a graph (diagnostic process, for example) ofthe results of numerical analysis obtained by the image discriminationare displayed. The LCD monitor 16 is not limited to such a display andcan display various information such as color reproduction images,patient clinical records, various data, and charts.

Thus, the LCD monitor 16 functions as a finder when photographed partsare selected and functions as a monitor when the color reproductionresults and the results of classification/judgment are displayed.

Further, various information for supporting the operations of theoperator can be displayed on a display monitor such as the LCD monitor16. Here, the variety of displayed information includes, for example,‘on state of the power supply’, ‘state of switching of monitormode/capture mode’, and the ‘switching state of each capture mode of onetooth/full jaw (upper and lower jaw)/face/full body’. The display ofvarious information displays icons and letters and so forth thatcorrespond to the mode selected on the screen of the display monitorsuch as the LCD monitor 16 when each mode is selected.

With regard to the capture mode in particular, as mentioned earlier, thecapture mode works in tandem with the focus operation and, in the caseof autofocus, a constitution such that a mode is displayed from rangedata may be considered. Further, in the case of manual focus, aconstitution may be considered such that a capture mode operates inaccordance with the operating position of the focus adjustment lever(focus ring). Marks and letters and so forth indicating capture mode mayalso be displayed in the operating position corresponding to the focusadjustment lever (focus ring) when manual focus is being used.

In addition, the lit/unlit states of the built-in illumination lightsource can be displayed on the display monitor such as the LCD monitor16 as various information for supporting the operations of the operator.The lit/unlit states of the built-in illumination light source areswitched with relation to the image angle (photographic range set by thephotographic range setting means) and, as mentioned earlier, switcheddepending on whether an external light source is connected (that is, thebuilt-in illumination light source is generally unlit when an externallight source is connected).

Meanwhile, because the display of the processing device 2 has, in mostcases, a larger and highly resoluted area than the LCD monitor 16provided in the handy-type photography device 1, the display 22 of theprocessing device 2 may perform a startup display, a condition settingdisplay, a GUI display for inputting information such as object IDs andso forth, a patient history display, an object information display ofprevious information or the like, and a processing result display, withrespect to software that is executed depending on the purpose by theprocessing device 2.

An external database, for example, is connected to the network 3 andobject information is acquired by the processing device 2 from theexternal database or the results of processing executed by theprocessing device 2 may be stored in the external database. Here, inorder to ensure security, the constitution can be such that mutualauthentication to connect the processing device 2 and an external systemvia the network 3 is performed and level-dependent authentication can beperformed by providing the object data with a security level.

Thereafter, FIG. 16 shows an example of an aspect when an imageprocessing system is employed.

The photography device 1 is constituted to be lightweight and small andallows image pickup to be performed by grasping the grasp section 5 bwith one hand and applying the leading end of the enclosure 5 in whichthe image pickup system is provided to the photographic target part ofthe object via the attachment section 4, for example.

As mentioned earlier, the attachment section 4 is a detachable anddisposable member that shields light from the outside from striking thephotographic target part of the object.

The photography button 14 a contained in the operating switch 14 isprovided at the top of the grasp section 5 b, for example, in a positionthat permits operation by means of an index finger. By pressing thephotography button 14 a after specifying the part that is to bephotographed by the LCD monitor 16, the transition is made from themonitor mode to the spectroscopic image capture mode as mentionedearlier and image pickup of the spectroscopic image is performed.

The acquired spectroscopic image is subjected to data processing by theprocessing device 2 and displayed on the display 22. However, by makingsettings or the like if required, the processing results of theprocessing device 2 may be displayed on the LCD monitor 16 of thephotography device 1 as mentioned earlier.

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 16, the processing device 2 isillustrated as a notebook-type personal computer with a display. In thiscase, the processing device 2 may be connected to the network 3 via anRS-232C, USB, IEEE1394 or other interface (I/F) that is provided in thenotebook-type personal computer.

The first embodiment allows an object spectroscopic image to be pickedup by providing LEDs of six types of different spectroscopicdistributions in visible light bandwidths in the photography device ofthe image processing system and causing the LEDs to emit light whileblocking external light. Here, because a compact and lightweightsemiconductor light-emitting element such as an LED is used as the lightsource, the photography device can be miniaturized and a handy-typephotography device can also be created.

Further, by performing processing by means of the processing device, ahighly accurately color-reproduced image can be displayed on thedisplay.

In addition, by designating the LED light emission order and the LEDsthat are made to emit light, images that are used for a variety ofdifferent purposes such as a normal RGB moving image can be picked up.

In addition, because a monochrome CCD is used, costs can be somewhatreduced and interpolation processing can be omitted in order to acquireone screen at a time without the respective color image data producingmissing pixels.

Further, as the image photography section that allows spectroscopicimages to be obtained, other constitutions can be used in addition to aconstitution that uses multiband illumination and image pickup elementsas illustrated in each of the embodiments including this embodiment.Technology that can be applied to the image photography sectionincludes, for example, the technology that appears in the earlierdescribed Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. H9-172649, JapanesePatent Application Laid Open No. 2002-296114, Japanese PatentApplication Laid Open No. 2003-023643, and Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid Open No. 2003-087806.

Furthermore, when an image is acquired by actually using the photographydevice, this image acquisition is implemented in keeping with theoperating steps (operating procedure) of a plurality of stages. In thecase of this image processing system, with the objective of facilitatingthe operation, the next operating step and progress status and so forthcan also be made explicit by the display means of the photography deviceby using a progress bar or the like as will be described subsequently,for example. As a result, smooth operation progress is made possible,for example. The operating steps are varied depending on the applicationfield but coping is possible by storing operating steps suited to thefield in the built-in memory. Alternatively, a constitution is possiblein which operating steps corresponding to a plurality of fields can bepre-stored in the built-in memory and operating steps are selected fromamong the stored operating steps and set.

FIG. 87 shows an aspect in which operating steps are displayed.

In this example, the current operating steps are displayed as text 243constituting the progress status display means on a display monitor suchas the LCD monitor 16 and the fact that this is fifth step ‘STEP 5’ isdisplayed here.

Further, FIG. 88 shows an aspect in which the progress status of theoperation is displayed.

In this example, the progress status of the current work is displayed asa progress bar 244 constituting the progress status display means on adisplay monitor such as the LCD monitor 16.

Further, the display of the operating steps and progress status is notlimited to being implemented by such text or such bar. The LCD monitor16 may be used as operation indicator means or measurement procedureindicator means, for example, or a speaker or the like is provided asthe operation indicator means or measurement procedure indicator means,and the next operation procedure may be displayed or indicated by meansof sound.

In addition, the setting state of the image processing system may bedisplayed on a display monitor such as the LCD monitor 16. FIG. 99 showsa display example of the setting state.

In the example shown in FIG. 99, the fact that the type of light sourceis ‘D65’ is displayed by text 271, the fact that the color space is‘Lab’ is displayed by text 272, and the fact that the number of primarycolors is ‘6’ is displayed by text 273 (6 band).

Such displays of setting states include the following examples.

First, a display of the number of primary colors (six, for example) andthe lighting (on, for example) as the illumination settings may beconsidered.

Further, a display of the shutter speed, F value, zoom position, and soforth may be considered as the photography settings.

Further, as the color reproduction settings, a display of the lightsource (D65, A, B, C, and so forth, for example), the viewing angle (2degrees, for example), color space (XYZ, Lab, for example), measurementtarget (object color, for example), color difference threshold value(0.1, for example), tooth color reference (Std01, for example), and soforth, may be considered.

By displaying the setting state in this manner, the photographer is ableto grasp the state of the system easily.

Second Embodiment

FIGS. 17 to 20 and FIG. 100 show a second embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the constitution of theimage processing system, FIG. 18A and FIG. 18B are timing charts thatshow reading aspects in full mode and reading two-speed mode in thesecond embodiment, FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B show aspects of lines read in2/4 line two-speed mode and 2/8 line four-speed mode, and FIG. 20 is aflowchart showing the operation when the photography mode is set.

In this second embodiment, the same numerals are assigned to the partsthat are the same as those of the first embodiment above and adescription thereof will be omitted. Only the differences are mainlydescribed.

The second embodiment has the basic constitution of the first embodimentdescribed earlier and is constituted to permit the adjustment of theimage reading speed from a color CCD that comprises a color filter array(CFA) 19 at the front face thereof.

The image reading speed is related to the display speed and the displayspeed cannot be as fast as or faster than the reading speed.

Generally, when images are monitored, a display interval equal to ormore than about 30 images/second is desirable. However, as the number ofprimary colors N increases, the display interval undergoes a relativeincrease, and a flicker state is sometimes produced or a large imagepositional shift caused by the respective primary color imageacquisition time difference is sometimes produced.

Therefore, this embodiment is a high-speed reading mode that avoids anincrease in the display interval and, in order to fix the displayinterval without dependence on the number of reading primary colors N,adjusts the image reading speed from a CCD 8A by the color control I/F12A as shown in FIG. 17.

The operation when the photography mode is set will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 20.

When there is an operating input to select the photography mode from theoperating switch 14 (step S21), the CPU 18 detects the operating input,records the photography mode to be set and information or the likerelated to the photography mode in a portion of the recording area inthe memory 11 (step S22), and issues a command to cause the cameracontrol I/F 12A to implement control to change the photography mode(step S23).

The camera control I/F 12A receives the command and controls the driveof the CCD 8A to change the photography mode. Here, the camera controlI/F 12A performs adjustment so that the light emission amount of therespective LEDs 6 a to 6 f match by controlling the LED driver 13 ininterlocking with the operation of the CCD 8A.

The photography modes that can be set for the photography device 1 areas follows, for example.

(1) Full mode

(2) Reading two-speed mode

(3) 2/4 line two-speed mode

(4) 2/8 line four-speed mode

(5) 2/16 line eight-speed mode

(6) First center scan mode

(7) Second center scan mode

(8) Third center scan mode

(9) Fourth center scan mode

(10) First center speed scan mode

(11) Second center speed scan mode

‘Full mode’ is a normal mode that sequentially reads at normal speed allthe pixels of all the scan lines of the CCD 8A as shown in FIG. 18A.Here, the respective frames are constituted of the frames in which thefirst LED 6 a, third LED 6 c, and fifth LED 6 e are simultaneously madeto emit light and the frames in which the second LED 6 b, fourth LED 6d, and sixth LED 6 f are simultaneously made to emit light. The meansfor capturing an image of six primary colors through such light emissionwill be described in the third embodiment that follows.

The ‘reading speed two-speed mode’ is a mode in which all the pixels ofall the scan lines of the CCD 8A are sequentially read at two times thenormal reading speed as shown in FIG. 18B with respect to the normalmode shown in FIG. 18A. Further, here, two speed reading is cited by wayof example but reading is not limited thereto. Any suitable speed factoris acceptable and variable speeds are also possible.

The ‘2/4 line two-speed mode’ halves the time required to read one frameby scanning only two lines for every four lines and, although theresolution in a vertical direction is halved, an image of all effectiveareas can be acquired.

The ‘2/8 line four-speed mode’ also renders the time required to readone frame 1/4 of that of normal mode by scanning only two lines forevery eight lines.

The ‘2/16 line eight-speed mode’ similarly renders the time required toread one frame 1/8 that of normal mode by examination only two lines forevery sixteen lines.

The ‘first center scan mode’ halves the time required to read one frameby scanning only a part of S/2 lines in the center within the effectivearea when the number of lines of all the scan lines is S, as shown inFIG. 19A.

The ‘second center scan mode’ renders the time required to read oneframe ¼ by scanning only a part of S/4 lines of the center within theeffective area when the number of lines of all the scan lines is S, asshown in FIG. 19B.

The ‘third center scan mode’ likewise renders the time required to readone frame ⅛ by scanning only a part of S/8 lines of the center withinthe effective area.

The ‘fourth center scan mode’ likewise renders the time required to readone frame 1/16 by scanning only a part of S/16 lines of the centerwithin the effective area.

The ‘first center high-speed scanning mode’ renders the time required toread one frame ¼ by scanning at two times the normal speed only a partof S/2 lines of the center within the effective area as shown in FIG.19A.

The ‘second center high-speed scanning mode’ renders the time requiredto read one frame ⅛ by scanning at two times the normal speed only apart of S/4 lines of the center within the effective area as shown inFIG. 19B.

The modes are not limited to the above modes. High-speed scanning canalso be performed by other means and can be summarized as followingincluding the above.

First is a simple increase in the scan speed. This makes it possible byadjusting the timing of a trigger signal that indicates the start ofreading, for example. For example, in an example in which the displaytime of one frame is 1/30 seconds, this is achieved by setting thetiming of the trigger signal so that the read time of each primary color(N primary colors) is 1/30/N.

Second is a speed increase by means of thinning scanning. With the firstspeed increase means, a limit to the speed increase is produced by theimage pickup elements. Although, on the other hand, the image qualitydrops when thinning is performed, because the speed can be increased byperforming stable scanning, the frame rate does not drop and flicker isnot produced in the display. As examples of thinning, thinning can beperformed in pixel units in addition to the thinning procedure mentionedearlier in which thinning is performed at fixed intervals in line unitsor in a fixed range and, when the image pickup element is an XYaddress-type image pickup element, only the desired pixel can be read.

Third is a speed increase that changes the frame rate in accordance withthe primary color. So too in the case of a CCD having a normal RGB colorfilter or the like, green (G) pixels close to a brightness signal areoften installed in a quantity that is two times the number of red (R)and blue (B) pixels. In consideration of this point, reading framesclose to green (G) among the six primary colors in a number that is twotimes the frames of the other colors may be considered. Naturally,reading is not limited to such reading and, in accordance with theintended usage, a large number of frames of specified primary colors maybe read and the rate of reading may be changed stepwise in accordancewith necessity.

Whether or not the abovementioned high-speed reading mode has been setis displayed as a high-speed reading mark 275 on the LCD monitor 16constituting the display means as shown in FIG. 100 and can be confirmedby viewing the display. FIG. 100 shows a display example of thehigh-speed reading mark. Further, the display of the high-speed readingmode is naturally not limited to that shown in FIG. 100 and is notlimited to the LCD monitor 16. The high-speed reading mode can also bedisplayed by other means. For example, each display may be different inorder to be able to distinguish which mode has been set among aplurality of high-speed reading modes.

The second embodiment exhibits substantially the same effects as thoseof the first embodiment and, by changing the reading speed, a fixeddisplay speed can be secured and a natural moving image can be displayedeven when there is movement during highly accurate color reproduction.

Third Embodiment

FIGS. 21 to 36 show a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 21is a block diagram showing the constitution of an image processingsystem and FIG. 22 shows an example of an aspect when the imageprocessing system is used. In the third embodiment, the same numeralsare assigned to the parts that are the same as those of the first andsecond embodiments above and a description of these parts will beomitted. Only the differences are mainly described.

The third embodiment has the basic constitution of the first embodimentdescribed earlier and is constituted such that a three-band color filterarray is installed on the photographic face of the CCD.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, the photography device 1 has anRBG 3-band color filter array (abbreviated as CFA in FIG. 21) 19installed in the vicinity of the CCD 8 in the light path in which theobject image is formed by the photography optical system 7 and aso-called single-panel-type color image pickup element is constituted asthe image pickup element section.

Therefore, although not illustrated, a normal RGB image can also beacquired in capture mode in the same way as by a normal camera. Theillumination of the object at such time may turn the illumination lightsource off by setting the photography device 1 in the illumination lightoff mode and ambient light such as general indoor light and solar lightand so forth may be used. Alternatively, by combining a plurality ofLEDs that are built into the photography device 1, a light source of aspectral regarded as a white light source may be constituted andcontinuously lit and irradiated onto the object.

FIG. 23 is a line diagram showing the light emission spectrals of theLEDs 6 a to 6 f and the spectroscopic sensitivity characteristic of theCCD 8 after being passed through the color filter array 19.

With respect to the light emission spectrals of the LEDs of six primarycolors indicated by the curves fL1 to fL6 shown in the first embodiment,the total spectroscopic sensitivity characteristics obtained by means ofthe transmittance distribution of the color filter array 19 and thelight reception sensitivity distribution of the CCD 8 are theillustrated curves fSB, fSG, and fSR.

The constitution is such that the curve fSB that indicates thespectroscopic bandwidth that corresponds to the blue color filter amongthese curves contains the two curves fL1 and fL2 and can sense the lightthat is emitted by the first LED 6 a and second LED 6 b, the curve fSGthat indicates the spectroscopic bandwidth that corresponds to the greencolor filter contains the two curves fL3 and fL4 and can sense the lightthat is emitted by the third LED 6 c and fourth LED 6 d, the curve fSRthat indicates the spectroscopic bandwidth that corresponds to the redcolor filter contains the two curves fL5 and fL6 and can sense the lightthat is emitted by the fifth LED 6 e and sixth LED 6 f.

However, there is no need to individually separate the totalspectroscopic sensitivity characteristics from each other. There may bea portion of mutual overlap in the peripheral part. In addition, as perthe first embodiment, the respective light emission spectrals of thefirst to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f may be light emission spectrals a portionof which overlap. Naturally, the types of LEDs are not limited to sixtypes and combinations of LEDs of a suitable number of types cansimilarly be adopted.

The operation when an image is acquired will be described next.

In the case of the image processing system, as per the first embodimentabove, the monitor mode and spectroscopic image capture mode areswitched when an image is acquired.

An operation of the spectroscopic image capture mode will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 24A, FIG. 24B, FIG. 26, and FIG. 27.FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B are a line diagram showing the spectroscopiccharacteristic of a spectroscopic image for each frame when a 6-bandspectroscopic image is generated. FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing theoperation of the light emission of each LED and image acquisition of animage pickup element in the 6-band spectroscopic image acquisition. FIG.27 is a timing chart showing an aspect of the operation of the lightemission of each LED and image acquisition of an image pickup element inthe 6-band spectroscopic image acquisition.

As described in the first embodiment, when the photography button 14 ais pressed and the spectroscopic image capture mode is established byswitching, a judgment that starts image pickup of a spectroscopic imageis performed (step S31).

Here, when image pickup of the spectroscopic image is performed, animage of a frame N is captured and then an image of a frame N+1 isperformed.

First, when the capture of an image of frame N is started, the first LED6 a, third LED 6 c, and fifth LED 6 e are lit at the same time (See FIG.24A) (step S32) and, after the lighting has started, image pickup usinga CCD 8 is started (See FIG. 27) (step S33).

Once the image pickup by the CCD 8 has ended, image data are read fromthe CCD 8, converted into digital data by the A/D converter 9, and thenstored in a predetermined storage area (frame memory) in the memory 11via the bus 10 (step S34).

Further, the respective image data stored in the frame memory areclassified for each primary color and then stored in predeterminedstorage areas (first, third, and fifth memories) in the memory 11 (stepS35).

Thereafter, by turning off each of the LEDs 6 a, 6 c, and 6 e (stepS36), the image capture of frame N ends.

The capture of the image of the next frame N+1 is basically the same asthe capture of the image of frame N except the lit LEDs and the memoryareas to which the picked up image data are transferred.

That is, the second LED 6 b, fourth LED 6 d, and sixth LED 6 f are litat the same time (See FIG. 24B) (step S37) and, after the lighting hasstarted, the image pickup by the CCD 8 is started (See FIG. 27) (stepS38).

Once the image pickup by the CCD 8 has ended, image data are read fromthe CCD 8, converted into digital data by the A/D converter 9, and thenstored in a predetermined storage area (frame memory) in the memory 11via the bus 10 (step S39).

Further, the respective image data stored in the frame memory areclassified for each primary color and then stored in predeterminedstorage areas (second, fourth, and sixth memories) in the memory 11(step S40).

Thereafter, by turning off each of the LEDs 6 b, 6 d, and 6 f (stepS41), the image capture of frame N+1 ends.

Further, although not illustrated, the image acquisition timing by thelight-emitting elements (LED) and image pickup element (CCD) is notlimited to that described above. The same results are obtained even ifthe light-emitting elements are turned on after the start of imageacquisition of the image pickup elements and even if the imageacquisition by the image pickup elements is ended after thelight-emitting elements are turned off, and so forth.

Further, the images of each primary color stored in the first to sixthmemories in step S35 and step S40 undergo interpolation processing inthe photography device 1 or processing device 2 if required because ofthe generation of missing pixels in correspondence with the arrangementof primary colors of the color filter array 19.

Thus, the 6-band object spectroscopic image stored in the memory 11 issent to the processing device 2 and undergoes color reproduction andimage processing and so forth by means of a processing program. Theprocessing result is displayed on the display 22 by another processingprogram or transferred to the photography device 1 and displayed on theLCD monitor 16.

The operation of the monitor mode will be described next with referenceto FIGS. 25, 28, and 29. FIG. 25 is a line diagram showing aspectroscopic characteristic of a spectroscopic image for each framewhen a monitor image is generated. FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing theoperation of the light emission of each LED and image acquisition of animage pickup element in the monitor image acquisition. FIG. 29 is atiming chart showing an aspect of the operation of the light emission ofeach LED and image acquisition of an image pickup element in the monitorimage acquisition.

Further, so too in this embodiment, as per the embodiments above,general RGB image usage is assumed and the selection of the respectivelight-emission primary colors is performed so that the first LED 6 a andsecond LED 6 b correspond to a blue (B) category, the third LED 6 c andfourth LED 6 d correspond to a green (G) category, and the fifth LED 6 eand sixth LED 6 f correspond to a red (R) category.

When the monitor mode is restored as a result of the monitor mode beingset by turning on the power supply switch or the spectroscopic imagecapture mode ending, the start of image pickup of the monitor image isstandby (step S51).

Here, image pickup is started immediately and all of the LEDs 6 a to 6 fare lit (see FIG. 25) (step S52). After the lighting of all the LEDs 6 ato 6 f has started, image pickup by the CCD 8 is started (See FIG. 29)(step S53).

Once image pickup by the CCD 8 has finished, all the LEDs 6 a to 6 f arethen turned off (step S54), and image data are read from the CCD 8,converted into digital data by the A/D converter 9, and then stored inpredetermined storage areas (first, third, and fifth memories) in thememory 11 via the bus 10 (step S55).

While the monitor mode is set, a moving image is acquired by returningto the step S51 and repeating this operation.

The image obtained in this manner is converted into monitor image dataand displayed on the LCD monitor 16 via the monitor I/F 15. Thereupon,the monitor image can also be displayed on the display 22 of theprocessing device 2 depending on the settings.

Further, in the timing chart shown in FIG. 29, although a reduction inthe power consumed is sought by turning all the LEDs 6 a to 6 f on andoff each time image pickup is performed by the CCD 8, the LEDs 6 a to 6f may be turned on continuously while the monitor mode is set.

Furthermore, although not illustrated, the timing of the imageacquisition by the light-emitting elements (LED) and image pickupelements (CCD) is not limited to that mentioned above. The same resultsare obtained even if the light-emitting elements are turned on followingthe start of the image acquisition by the image pickup elements and evenif the image acquisition by the image pickup elements is ended after thelight-emitting elements are switched off.

Further, with 6-band spectroscopic image capture mode of this embodimentbeing continued to constitute the monitor image acquisition method, amonitor image can also be generated by simultaneously performing memoryaddition of the first and second bands of the 6-band spectroscopicimage, memory addition of the third and fourth bands, and memoryaddition of the fifth and sixth bands. In this case, the monitor imagecan be generated by performing memory addition without changing thephotography section algorithm. This is effective as a monitor methodduring continuous spectroscopic image measurement.

Thereafter, FIGS. 30A to 36 show a modified example of the thirdembodiment. FIG. 30A and FIG. 30B are a line diagram showing an LEDlight emission spectral when an 8-band spectroscopic image is generatedand a CCD spectroscopic sensitivity characteristic after being passedthrough a color filter array.

Although the LEDs only emit light of six primary colors (six bands), themodified example obtains an 8-band output as detection by providing LEDsof a light-emission spectroscopic characteristic that extends over theRGB detection bands of the CCD 8 via the color filter array 19.

That is, as shown in FIG. 30A, the light reception characteristics(indicated by each of the curves fL1′ to fL6′) of the light emitted bythe respective LEDs 6 a to 6 f with respect to the curves fSB, fSG, fSRthat show the total spectroscopic sensitivity characteristic obtained bythe transmittance distribution of the color filter array 19 and thelight reception sensitivity distribution of the CCD 8 are as follows.

First, two curves fL1′ and fL2′ are contained within the curve fSB thatrepresents the spectroscopic bandwidth that corresponds to the bluecolor filter and a portion of curve fL3′ is also contained within curvefSB.

Curve fL4′ is contained within curve fSG that represents thespectroscopic bandwidth that corresponds to the green color filter andfurther a portion of curve fL3′ and a portion of curve fL5′ arecontained within curve fSG.

Curve fL6′ is contained within curve fSR that represents thespectroscopic bandwidth that corresponds to the red color filter andfurther a portion of curve fL5′ is contained within curve fSR.

Thus, the constitution is such that the spectroscopic characteristic ofthe light emission by the third LED 6 c (curve fL3′) extends over theband of the blue color filter and the band of the green color filter andthe spectroscopic characteristic of the light emission by the fifth LED6 e (curve fL5′) extends over the band of the green color filter and theband of the red color filter.

As a result of this constitution, the total spectroscopic sensitivitycharacteristic when light emitted by each of the LEDs 6 a to 6 f isreceived by the CCD 8 via the color filter array 19 has a total of 8bands which are curve fSL1′ (of curve fL1′ and curve fSB), curve fSL2′(of curve fL2′ and curve fSB), curve fSL3′ (of curve fL3′ and curvefSB), curve fSL4′ (of curve fL3′ and curve fSG), curve fSL5′ (of curvefL4′ and curve fSG), curve fSL6′ (of curve fL5′ and curve fSG), curvefSL7′ (of curve fL5′ and curve fSR), and curve fSL8′ (of curve fL6′ andcurve fSR), as shown in FIG. 30B.

An operation that acquires an 8-band spectroscopic image will bedescribed next with reference to FIGS. 31A to 33. FIG. 31A to FIG. 31Care a line diagram showing a spectroscopic characteristic of aspectroscopic image for each frame when an 8-band spectroscopic image isgenerated. FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing the operation of the lightemission of each LED and the image acquisition of the image pickupelement in the 8-band spectroscopic image acquisition. FIG. 33 is atiming chart showing an aspect of the operation of the light emission ofeach LED and the image acquisition of the image pickup element in the8-band spectroscopic image acquisition.

Further, in the modified example, in order to pick up an 8-bandspectroscopic image, the corresponding storage areas of the first toeighth memories are provided in the memory 11.

When a switch is made to the spectroscopic image capture mode bypressing the photography button 14 a, a judgment to start the imagepickup of the spectroscopic image is performed (step S61).

When the image pickup of the spectroscopic image is started, first acapture operation to capture the image of frame N as shown in FIG. 31Ais started, the first LED 6 a and fourth LED 6 d are lit at the sametime (step S62) and, after lighting has started, image pickup by the CCD8 is started (See FIG. 33) (step S63).

Once image pickup by the CCD 8 has started, the LEDs 6 a and 6 d arethen turned off (step S64), and image data are read from the CCD 8 andconverted into digital data by the A/D converter 9 and then stored inpredetermined storage areas (first and second memories) in memory 11 viathe bus 10 (step S65). As a result, the image capture operation of frameN (acquisition of a 2-band object spectroscopic image) ends.

Thereafter, the capture operation to capture the image of frame N+1 asshown in FIG. 31B is started, the second LED 6 b and fifth LED 6 e arelit simultaneously (step S66) and, after lighting has started, imagepickup by the CCD 8 is started (See FIG. 33 (step S67).

Once the image pickup by the CCD 8 has ended, the LEDs 6 b and 6 e areturned off (step S68), and image data are read from the CCD 8 and storedin predetermined storage areas (third, fourth, and fifth memories) inthe memory 11 (step S69). As a result, the capture operation for theimage of frame N+1 (acquisition of 3-band object spectroscopic image)ends.

In addition, the capture operation of the image of frame N+2 as shown inFIG. 31C is started and the third LED 6 c and sixth LED 6 f are lit atthe same time (step S70) and, after the lighting is started, the imagepickup by the CCD 8 is started (See FIG. 33) (step S71).

Once the image pickup by the CCD 8 has ended, the LEDs 6 c and 6 f arethen turned off (step S72) and image data are read from the CCD 8 andthen stored in predetermined areas (sixth, seventh, and eighth memories)within the memory 11 (step S73). As a result, the capture operation tocapture the image of frame N+2 (the acquisition of a 3-band objectspectroscopic image) ends.

When spectroscopic images are continuously captured as a moving image,the operation from frame N to frame N+2 is repeated.

Further, although not illustrated, the timing of the image acquisitionby the light-emitting elements (LED) and image pickup element (CCD) isnot limited to that mentioned above. The same results are obtained evenif the light-emitting elements are turned on after the start of imageacquisition by the image pickup element and even if image acquisition bythe image pickup element is ended after the light-emitting elements areturned off, or similar.

Thus, the 6-band object spectroscopic image stored in the memory 11 issent to the processing device 2 and color reproduction and imageprocessing and so forth are performed by a processing program. Theprocessing result is displayed on the display 22 by another processingprogram or transmitted to the photography device 1 and displayed on theLCD monitor 16.

An operation in which the monitor image is acquired will be describednext with reference to FIGS. 34 to 36. FIG. 34 is a line diagram showinga spectroscopic characteristic of a spectroscopic image for each framewhen a monitor image is generated. FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing theoperation of the light emission of each LED and the image acquisition ofthe image pickup element in the monitor image acquisition. FIG. 36 is atiming chart showing an aspect of the operation of the light emission ofeach LED and the image acquisition of the image pickup element in themonitor image acquisition.

When the monitor mode is restored as a result of the monitor mode beingset by turning on the power supply switch or the spectroscopic imagecapture mode ending, the start of image pickup of the monitor image isstandby (step S81).

Here, image pickup is started immediately and all of the LEDs 6 a to 6 fare lit (see FIG. 34) (step S82). After the lighting of all the LEDs 6 ato 6 f has started, image pickup by the CCD 8 is started (See FIG. 36)(step S83).

Once image pickup by the CCD 8 has finished, all the LEDs 6 a to 6 f arethen turned off (step S84), and image data are read from the CCD 8,converted into digital data by the A/D converter 9, and then stored inpredetermined storage areas in the memory 11 via the bus 10 (step S85).

Here, although a reduction in the power consumed is sought by turningall the LEDs 6 a to 6 f on and off each time image pickup is performedby the CCD 8, the LEDs 6 a to 6 f may be turned on continuously whilethe monitor mode is set as described in FIG. 29 above.

Furthermore, although not illustrated, the timing of the imageacquisition by the light-emitting elements (LED) and image pickupelements (CCD) is not limited to that mentioned above. The same resultsare obtained even if the light-emitting elements are turned on followingthe start of the image acquisition by the image pickup elements and evenif the image acquisition by the image pickup elements is ended after thelight-emitting elements are turned off.

Thereafter, until monitor mode is cancelled, the processing returns tostep S81 and moving-image image data are continuously acquired byrepeating the operation above.

The image obtained in this manner is converted into monitor image dataand displayed on the LCD monitor 16 via the monitor I/F 15. Thereupon,the monitor image can also be displayed on the display 22 of theprocessing device 2 depending on the settings.

Further, although a single-panel image pickup element in combinationwith a 3-band color filter array is cited by way of example as the imagepickup element in the above description, the image pickup element is notlimited to such a combination and may be a three-panel type 3-band imagepickup element constituted comprising a spectroscopic section such as aspectroscopic mirror or spectroscopic prism that separates the incidentlight into light of a plurality of wavelength bands, and a plurality ofimage pickup elements that perform image pickup on light of theplurality of wavelength bands that has undergone the spectroscopy of thespectroscopic section, or may be a two-panel-type image pickup element.In addition, the color filter is not limited to an RGB 3-band primarycolor filter and may naturally also be a complementary color filter.

Furthermore, although 8-band object spectroscopic image data is acquiredfrom the LEDs of the 6-band light-emission spectrals above, the presentinvention is not limited to such LEDs. Optional object spectroscopicimage data may be acquired by means of a combination. For example, evenwhen only third and fifth LEDs are used, that is, only a 2-band lightsource is used, a 4-band object spectroscopic image can be obtained asindicated by fSL3′, fSL4′, fSL6′, and fSL7′ in FIG. 31B and FIG. 31C. Inaddition, various combinations are possible.

The third embodiment exhibits substantially the same effects as those ofthe first and second embodiments above. By using a color image pickupelement, the number of image pickups required to acquire the objectspectroscopic image can be reduced and a highly accuratecolor-reproduced moving image or the like can be more easilyimplemented.

In addition, because the constitution is such that the LED lightemission spectrals extend over the spectroscopic sensitivitydistribution of the light reception by the color image pickup element,8-band object spectroscopic image data can be acquired while using theLEDs of the 6-band light emission spectrals.

Fourth Embodiment

FIGS. 37 to 42 and FIG. 89 show a fourth embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 37 is a block diagram showing the constitution of theimage processing system. In the fourth embodiment, the same numerals areassigned to the same parts as those of the first to third embodimentsand a description of such parts is omitted. Only the differences aremainly described.

The fourth embodiment has the basic constitution of the third embodimentabove and is further constituted by adding a spectral detection sensor.

That is, as shown in FIG. 37, the photography device 1 of the imageprocessing system is constituted further comprising: in addition to theconstitution of the third embodiment shown in FIG. 21, a spectraldetection sensor 41 that detects the spectral distribution of light; aprobe 42 that introduces detected light to the spectral detection sensor41; a sensor I/F 43 that converts the output from the spectral detectionsensor 41 into a digital signal and processes and outputs the digitalsignal; an object characteristic memory 44 that stores the objectcharacteristics, and a camera characteristic memory 45 that stores thecamera characteristics.

Differing from a constitution in which a 6-band spectroscopic image isacquired by the CCD 8 by using the first LED 6 a to sixth LED 6 f, thespectral detection sensor 41 detects only spectrals rather thancapturing light as an image.

The spectral detection sensor 41 has a light detection range that coversthe full bandwidth of visible light (380 nm to 800 nm), performsdetection by means of the grating system and has a resolution of 5 nm.Therefore, detailed spectral data can be acquired. Further, although agrating-system spectral detection sensor is cited by way of examplehere, other systems are acceptable.

The probe 42 uses flexible optical fiber (or an optical fiber bundle),for example, but is not limited to flexible optical fiber. Broadapplications are possible as long as the probe 42 is capable of guidingthe detected light.

While it is possible to detect the light spectral of the object when thelight from the object is detected by using such a constitution, thespectral characteristic of the illumination light can also be measuredby installing a standard white color plate in place of the object.

More precisely, the spectral characteristics of the respective LEDs 6 ato 6 f can be measured by blocking the external illumination light byusing the attachment section 4 or the like and making the first LED 6 ato sixth LED 6 f emit light sequentially and detecting the light. As aresult, deterioration in the light-emitting elements themselves and avariation in the spectral characteristic caused by a change in theenvironment such as the temperature can be detected. In addition, moreaccurate high color reproduction can be implemented because a profile ofthe illumination spectral that reflects the variation in thecharacteristic is obtained.

The spectral characteristic of the ambient illumination light can alsobe measured by detecting the external illumination light.

Thereafter, FIG. 38 shows an example of an aspect when an imageprocessing system in which a plurality of spectral detection sensors areinstalled is used.

FIG. 38 shows a more specific installation example of the spectraldetection sensor. Here, two spectral detection sensors, that is, a firstspectral detection sensor 47 and a second spectral detection sensor 46are used.

The first spectral detection sensor 47 is installed to detect thespectroscopic spectral of the object part, wherein the tip of theoptical fiber 49 constituting the probe is installed in a position thatallows object light to enter via the projection opening 5 a of theenclosure 5 in the vicinity of the first to sixth LEDs 6 a to 6 f.

As mentioned above, the first spectral detection sensor 47 can be usedin order to detect the illumination spectral of the first to sixth LEDs6 a to 6 f by installing a standard white color plate in place of theobject and the spectroscopic reflection spectral of a spot (specifiedpart) of the object can also be acquired directly by installing a lensor similar at the tip as will be described subsequently.

As a result, if spectral data for the paint color of an automobile, thepaint color of a building, the spectroscopic characteristic offoodstuff, and the dye of clothing, and so forth are acquired directlyby using the first spectral detection sensor 47, the data can be used asdata for examining and confirming the aforementioned items.

Further, the second spectral detection sensor 46 is provided to make itpossible to detect the illumination light spectral of an environment inwhich the object has been placed, wherein the tip of the optical fiber48 constituting the probe is exposed at the outer surface of theenclosure 5, and a white, translucent integrating sphere 48 c isattached to cover the tip of the optical fiber 48. An illuminationspectral when the object in a position spaced apart from the photographydevice 1 is photographed with only solar light or indoor light can beacquired by using the second spectral detection sensor 46. As a result,because a profile of the illumination spectral according to the ambientillumination light can be created at the same time as the object imageis photographed, real-time high-color reproduction can be automaticallyperformed correspondingly even when the ambient illumination lightchanges.

In addition, by detecting the spectral of the peripheral ambient lightof the photography device 1 and comparing the same with the spectrals ofthe LEDs contained in the photography device 1 itself, it is alsopossible to adaptively switch to performing image pickup by using eitherthe peripheral ambient light or LED light. For example, becauseperipheral ambient light can be used when an RGB moving image issubjected to image pickup, in this case, a decrease in the powerconsumed or the like is also rendered possible by causing the built-inLEDs not to emit light.

FIG. 39 is a sectional view of a constitutional example of the spectraldetection sensor 41.

The probe 42 has light that enters via an entrance end 42 a and exitsfrom an exit end 42 b.

The spectral detection sensor 41 is constituted comprising a containerbox 41 a, an incident light slit 41 b that is provided open at one endof the container box 41 a and which serves to allow light leaving theexit end 42 b of the probe 42 to enter as slit light, a grating 41 cinstalled in the container box 41 a that subjects the slit lightentering via the incident light slit 41 b to spectroscopy in accordancewith wavelength to cause the light to be reflected in differentdirections and condensed, and a photodiode array 41 d that is attachedto the container box 41 a and which receives light that has beencondensed in different positions in accordance with wavelength by thegrating 41 c and outputs a signal that corresponds with the intensity ofthe received light.

As a result, the photodiode array 41 d O/E-converts differentwavelengths in accordance with the light reception position and outputsa signal that corresponds with the intensity.

The sensor I/F 43 is constituted comprising an A/D converter 43 a forconverting an analog signal that is output by the photodiode array 41 dinto a digital signal and outputs the converted digital signal to a CPU18 or the like via the bus 10. The CPU 18 receives the digital signal asspectral information indicating the intensity of each wavelength andperforms an analysis or the like.

FIG. 40 is a sectional view of an aspect of an entrance end 49 a of anoptical fiber 49 that is connected to the spectral detection sensor 47.Further, an illustration of the photography optical system 7 and soforth has been omitted from FIG. 40.

Light from a certain angular range enters the entrance end 49 a of theoptical fiber 49. In the illustrated example, the optical fiber 49 isinstalled so that the reflected light reflected by the object surfaceconstituting the photographic target that enters via the projectionopening 5 a of the enclosure 5 reaches the entrance end 49 a.

The constitution shown in FIG. 40 employs a standard white color plateas the object as mentioned earlier and can be used in the acquisition ofinformation on color changes over time by detecting LED illuminationspectrals, and so forth.

Further, FIG. 41 is a sectional view of a constitutional example inwhich a sensor optical system 49 c is installed in the vicinity of theentrance end 49 a of the optical fiber 49 that is connected to thespectral detection sensor 47. Further, an illustration of thephotography optical system 7 and so forth has also been omitted fromFIG. 41.

As shown in FIG. 41, by providing the sensor optical system 49 cconstituting a lens or similar at the entrance end 49 a of the opticalfiber 49 connected to the spectral detection sensor 47, the luminousflux entering the entrance end 49 a can be limited to light from acertain range of the object. As a result, the spectral of a specificposition of the object can be measured at a high wavelength resolution,as mentioned earlier.

FIG. 42 is a sectional view of an aspect of the entrance end 48 a of theoptical fiber 48 that is connected to the spectral detection sensor 46that is provided for ambient light acquisition. Further, an illustrationof the photography optical system 7 and so forth has also been omittedfrom FIG. 42.

As mentioned earlier, the entrance end 48 a of the input optical fiber48 is exposed at the outer surface of the enclosure 5 and the white andtranslucent integrating sphere 48 c is attached to surround the entranceend 48 a.

In such a constitution, when ambient illumination light is irradiatedonto the integrating sphere 48 c, the same is diffused and transmittedand enters from the entrance end 48 a of the optical fiber 48. Theincident light is transmitted by the optical fiber 48 and spectralmeasurement is performed by the spectral detection sensor 46.

The fourth embodiment affords substantially the same effects as those ofthe first to third embodiments. A spectral distribution of the objectlight can be obtained by providing the spectral detection sensor andmore accurate color reproduction can also be performed in real time byacquiring the spectral distribution of the LEDs.

Further, the spectral distribution of a specified part of the object canalso be acquired by using a sensor optical system. Because the sensoroptical system has a 5 nm resolution, for example, as mentioned earlier,more detailed spectral data can be obtained for the specified part ofthe object, whereby a more accurate diagnosis and judgment can beperformed.

In addition, because the spectral of ambient illumination light can bedetected, a profile of the illumination spectral pertaining to theambient illumination light can also be acquired in real time.

In addition, the existence of leaked light can also be detected by thespectral detection sensor 41 in macro-photography mode. Further, whenthe leaked light is detected, a warning to the photographer may beissued by means of a display and sound and so forth by using warningreporting means. The displayed warning may involve displaying a warningon the display means (setting state display means, for example) and asound warning may involve the sounding of an alarm such as an alarmsound. FIG. 89 shows an example of an alarm display for leaked light. Inthis example, a warning to the effect that there is leaked light isissued by displaying a leaked light alarm 245 as a downward-facingzigzag arrow, for example, on a display monitor such as the LCD monitor16.

Further, the warning reporting means is not limited to a warning noticewhen leaked light is detected. A warning notice in the event of apositional shift during photography or a warning notice when a shadow isproduced in the photography optical system, or the like, may be issued.

Fifth Embodiment

The image processing system of a fifth embodiment of the presentinvention will be described next. In this fifth embodiment, the samenumerals are assigned to the parts that are the same as those of thefirst to fourth embodiments above and a description thereof will beomitted. Only the differences are mainly described.

FIG. 43 is a system constitutional view of a dental image processingsystem constituting an image processing system of the fifth embodimentof the present invention. FIG. 44 is a block constitutional view of aphotography device that is adopted as the dental image processing systemin FIG. 43.

A dental image processing system 50 of the fifth embodiment is a systemthat acquires spectroscopic image information of the teeth of a patient59 when dentures or false teeth are produced, performs highly accuratecolor reproduction and, by exchanging the spectroscopic imageinformation with a dental technician's office 55 by means of the network3, whereby the system is capable of supporting esthetic crown repair andwhitening processing.

The dental image processing system 50 of this embodiment comprises aphotography device (handheld multispectral camera, HMSC) 1A constitutingan image photography section for acquiring image data of a spectroscopicimage and monitor image of a patient's teeth as shown in FIG. 43, aprocessing device 2A constituting an image processing section thatcomprises an image memory and performs computing and managing image dataobtained by the photography device 1A, a touch-panel-type inputoperation device 53 for performing a camera photography operation, acalibration monitor 54 for displaying a color reproduction state, anetwork 3 for linking the processing device 2A and the dentaltechnician's office (communication device) 55, and a repair materialcompound ratio calculation database 56 that is provided in the dentaltechnician's office 55.

Further, the repair material compound ratio calculation database 56 maybe placed within or in parallel with a dental database that hasfunctions useful to dentistry such as dental treatment information, apatient registration database, and a case database. Furthermore, therepair material compound ratio calculation database 56 or the dentaldatabase is not restricted to a dental technician's office 55 and may beplaced on a specific website.

Further, although not illustrated, by providing the photography device1A in a dental office, confirmation and evaluation of a createdprosthesis or the like can also be implemented. In addition, bytransmitting information such as images to the dentist via a networkbefore sending a prosthesis to a dentist, the suitability of theprosthesis can be secured more reliably. That is, this system permitstwo-way data exchange and rapid and highly accurate prosthesis creation.

In addition, because information can be transmitted substantially inreal time via the network, when treatment of the patient's teeth isdifficult and so forth, information is exchanged with the dentaltechnician's office during the time the patient stays at the dentaloffice and, depending on the case, the information exchange can beperformed once again to acquire additional information (images and soforth) desired by the dental technician, and the diagnosis of thepatient and wishes of the patient can be collected without wasting time,which contributes to a rapid treatment and a contribution to animprovement in patient services.

In the photography device 1A, with an LED cluster 6X comprising aplurality of LEDs of different spectroscopic distributioncharacteristics serving as the light source, the object imageilluminated by the light source (the image of the teeth of the patient59 here) is captured via the photography optical system 7 whereupon theobject image is converted into an image pickup signal by the CCD 8 thatconstitutes the image pickup means and stored as image data in thememory 11. The image data is transferred to the image memory of theprocessing device 2A via the external I/F 17. The constitution of theprocessing device 1A is substantially the same as that of thephotography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied to the imageprocessing system of the first to fourth embodiments. FIG. 44 shows thesame constituent elements with the same numerals assigned.

The processing device 2A is an image processing section as shown in FIG.44 which is constituted further comprising a dental filing system 23 inaddition to the same computation device 21 and display device 22 thatare applied to the image processing section 2 of the image processingsystem of the first embodiment and so forth.

The computation device 21 performs color reproduction computationprocessing and image judgment computation processing (quantitativejudgment) of the object on the basis of the spectroscopic image data andso forth captured by the photography device 1A. The image judgmentcomputation processing is processing that performs a judgment of thegrade of white of the patient's teeth, hue discrimination, correlationof skin grooves and hills and so forth of the skin surface, entropyanalysis, and so forth, for example. The computation device 21 has thesame constitution and function as the computation device 21 of theprocessing device 2A applied to the image processing system of the firstembodiment.

The dental filing system 23 is a system for performing data filling ofnumerical management before and after bleaching of the patient's teeth,the bleaching frequency, and the results of compound calculations ofdenture and crown repair material. The dental filing system 23 containsimage filling software. Further, image data photographed by means of theoperation of the operating switch 14 by the photography device 1 arerecorded and captured in a predetermined location of the image fillingsoftware in a predetermined memory section of the filing system 23.

The processing operation of the dental image processing system 50 ofthis embodiment with the above constitution will be described next.

When crown repair material or a denture matching the color of the teethof the patient 59 is produced by applying the dental image processingsystem 50 in a dental office, first the whiteness and hue of the teethof patient 59 are measured. The patient 59 places their jaw on a fixedbase 58, thereby placing the head in a fixed state. A photography device51 is attached to the fixed base 58. The disposable light-shieldingattachment section 4 is placed at the patient 59's mouth and theperiphery of the teeth to which the denture is to be introduced in themouth is placed in a state in which the same can be photographed by thephotography device 1. Further, a shift in the position of the objectduring photography can be prevented by fixing the photography device 51as described above.

The light emission mode of the LED cluster 6X of the photography device1 can be selected and designated by operating the touch-panel-type inputoperation device 53. Light emission modes include a mode thatsequentially turns on the LED cluster 6X for each of the LEDs of asingle primary color, a mode that selects and turns on the LEDs, and amode that turns on all the LEDs at the same time, for example. Thespectroscopic image capture mode or monitor mode is designated inaccordance with the light emission mode or the number of spectroscopicbands of the spectroscopic image capture mode is designated.

Thereafter, the input operation device 53 is operated and the lightingof the LED cluster 6X is started. The operation can also be performed bythe operating switch 14 of the photography device 1.

When the spectroscopic image capture mode is selected, an object imagesignal of the tooth of the patient 59 is captured via the CCD 8 with thelighting of the LED cluster 6X and stored in the memory 11 asspectroscopic image data. The spectroscopic image data is transferred tothe processing device 2 and XYZ estimation computation is performed bythe color reproduction computation section 33 (FIG. 12). A highlyaccurate color reproduction image of the teeth of the patient 59produced from the computation results is then displayed on the display22 or a calibration monitor 54.

Further, when the monitor mode is selected, a normal display image isdisplayed on the display 22. Further, the spectroscopic image capturemode and the monitor mode can be switched by the input operation device53.

In addition, a judgment calculation is performed by the imagediscrimination computation section 34 (FIG. 13) of the processing device2A on the basis of the spectroscopic image data and grade data relatingto the shade of color of patient 59's teeth are determined. The gradedata are the grades on the shade guide for comparing the shade of theteeth color and the values of the grade data are displayed on thecalibration monitor 54. Further, the processing device 2A performs acompound calculation of the repair materials used on the basis of thegrade data and determines repair material compound data.

Inspection data, which are grade data relating to the shade of toothcolor and color reproduction image data relating to the teeth of patient59, and repair material compound data are transferred to the computersection of the dental technician's office 55 via the network 3.

In the dental technician's office 55, a specific compound ratio isretrieved by means of the repair material compound ratio calculationdatabase 56 on the basis of the inspection data and repair materialcompound data. Crown repairs and dentures are produced on the basis ofthis compound ratio. The dentures thus produced are distributed to thedental office and passed on to patient 59.

In the treatment process, data relating to tooth color and a colorreproduction image are displayed on the calibration monitor 54 via theinput operation device 53 for the patient 59 and the process of treatingpatient 59 can be shown and understood.

Further, the dental image processing system 50 can also be applied toteeth bleaching treatments in addition to the fabrication of crownrepairs and dentures for the patient 59. That is, grade data relating tothe shade of teeth, and color reproduction image data showing thebleaching results are determined by photographing the teeth of patient59 in states before and after bleaching by means of the photographydevice 1A and then performing the abovementioned image computationprocessing. Numerical data before and after bleaching treatment aredisplayed on the calibration monitor 54 and are effective in obtainingthe informed consent of patient 59. In addition, variations in the colorreproduction image data and the grade data in the treatment process overtime and due to the bleaching frequency can be confirmed visually.Further, data in the treatment process can also be accumulated.

When the dental image processing system 50 of the fifth embodiment isapplied, because image data or grade data of favorable reproducibilitythat are not affected by normal indoor light are obtained, the highlyaccurate color reproduction image and the grade data determined by theprocessing device 2A are not subject to individual differences as is thecase when the comparison data of a conventional shade guide are applied,are not affected by ambient light, and do not vary due to the camera orfilm and so forth used. Further, because the treatment process can beobserved by the calibration monitor 54, the dental image processingsystem 50 is effective in obtaining the informed consent of patient 59.

Further, a touch-panel-type device can be applied as the input operationdevice 53 and a disposable light-shielding (attachment section 4) can bemounted at the tip of the photography section of the photography device1A.

The dental image processing system 50 can also be applied to fieldsother than dentistry. For example, when applied to a dermatology system,the state of the skin being treated can be photographed, more accuratecolor reproduction image data can be obtained, and changes in the stateof the skin in which there are no inconsistencies caused by illuminationcan be recorded. Further, the dental image processing system 50 can alsobe applied to a skin evaluation system, whereby accurate reproduction ofthe color of skin under normal reference illumination is made possibleand the state of skin under special illumination can also be reproduced.

Sixth Embodiment

An image processing system constituting a sixth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next with reference to FIGS. 45 to48 and FIGS. 90A to 95. In the sixth embodiment, the same numerals areassigned to the parts that are the same as those of the first to fifthembodiments above and a description thereof will be omitted. Only thedifferences are mainly described.

Further, FIG. 45 shows the constitution of the image processing systemof this embodiment. FIG. 46 is a block constitutional diagram of theimage processing system. FIGS. 47 and 48 are flowcharts of thephotography processing of the photography device of the image processingsystem, where FIG. 47 shows a flowchart of a photography standbyprocessing routine and FIG. 48 shows a flowchart of a photographyroutine.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1B that is the image photography section as shown in FIGS. 45 and46 and which is capable of performing photography by means of LEDillumination light or strobe illumination light, and a processing device2B constituting an image processing section that comprises an imagememory and is for determining highly accurate color reproduction imagedata from a spectroscopic image signal produced by the photography bythe photography device 1B.

The photography device 1B has the same constitution and functions as thephotography device 1 (FIG. 38) in which the color CCD and illuminationlight sensor applied to the image processing system of the fourthembodiment are integrated and a strobe light emission device 65constituting an external strobe device is detachable. Further, in FIG.46, constituent elements of the photography device 1B that are the sameas those of the photography device 1 are indicated by means of the samenumerals.

The processing device 2B comprises the same constitution and functionsas the processing device 2 applied to the image processing system of thefourth embodiment.

The photography device 1B is capable of photographing a close-rangedobject by means of built-in LED illumination, however, because thebuilt-in LED illumination light does not reach the object when thedistance to the object is on the order of a few centimeters to a fewmeters, photography can be performed by mounting the strobe lightemission device 65 and causing a strobe light emission tube to emitlight.

When an external light source such as the strobe light emission device65 is mounted, the fact that the external light source is mounted can bedisplayed on the display means. FIG. 90A and FIG. 90B show an example ofa display relating to the mounting of an illumination unit.

FIG. 90A is an example in which a mark 246 urging the mounting of anexternal illumination unit is displayed. Further, when the externalillumination unit is mounted, the mark 247 shown in FIG. 90B isdisplayed.

Further, because the external light source can be selected from amongdifferent types of external light source, the optimum device can beused. Here, settings are made so that an operation that corresponds withthe selected external light source is performed.

In addition, in order to acquire the optimum spectroscopic image, theillumination system and photography system and so forth can also bespecialized for each object and for each of a variety of applications.In this case, the basic constitution of the photography device is notchanged and, by making only the illumination system and photographysystem into the detachable type, greater cost reductions can be achievedthan when a plurality of photography devices are prepared for eachobject.

FIGS. 91 to 95 show constitutional examples of a detachable unit.

FIG. 91 shows an example in which only the ‘illumination optical system’is a detachable unit 251A. This unit 251A is linked to the main body ofthe photography device 1 via a mechanical link 253. Further, theillumination optical system 252 is an optical system for irradiatinglight emitted by the LEDs 6 a to 6 f toward the object and is includedin the illumination light source. Further, the enclosure 5 and graspsection 5 b of the photography device 1 are constituted so that the samecan be turned, for example, by a mechanism 255 (See FIG. 95 describedsubsequently).

Further, the system constitution of the illumination optical system isnot limited to the illustrated system constitution and it is understoodthat low-cost, suitable applications are made possible throughoptimization of each object and each application in the fields such ascoatings, dentistry, dermatology, and so forth.

FIG. 92 shows an example in which a detachable unit 251B is constitutedby integrating a ‘light source LED’ and an ‘illumination opticalsystem’. The unit 251B is linked to the main body of the photographydevice via a mechanical link 253 and an electrical link. Here, theelectrical link is constituted comprising an electrical connect 254 aprovided on the side of the unit 251B and an electrical connect 254 bprovided on the side of the main body of the photography device 1.Further, the electrical link is used for controlling the LEDs 6 a to 6 fand for the power supply and so forth. Further, the LEDs 6 a to 6 f thatconstitute the light source and the illumination optical system 252 arecontained in the illumination light source.

Further, the system constitution of the LEDs constituting the lightsource and the illumination optical system are not limited to thoseillustrated and it is understood that low-cost, suitable applicationsare made possible through optimization of each object and eachapplication in the fields such as coatings, dentistry, dermatology, andso forth.

FIG. 93 shows an example in which a detachable unit 251C is constitutedby integrating a ‘light source LED’, an ‘illumination optical system’,and a ‘photography optical system’. The unit 251C is linked to the mainbody of the photography device 1 via the mechanical link 253 andelectrical link mentioned earlier.

Further, the system constitution of the light source LED, illuminationoptical system, and photography optical system is not limited to theillustrated system constitution and it is understood that low-cost,suitable applications are made possible through optimization of eachobject and each application in the fields such as coatings, dentistry,dermatology, and so forth.

FIG. 94 shows an example in which a detachable unit 251D is constitutedby integrating a ‘light source LED’, an ‘illumination optical system’, a‘photography optical system’, and an ‘image pickup element’. The unit251D is linked to the main body of the photography device 1 via themechanical link 253 and electrical link mentioned earlier. Here, theelectrical link constituted comprising electrical connects 254 a and 254b is used in controlling the LEDs 6 a to 6 f and for the power supplyand so forth and is used in driving the CCD 8 constituting the imagepickup element and in the transmission of an image pickup signal fromthe CCD 8.

Further, the system constitution of the light source LED, illuminationoptical system, photography optical system, and image pickup element isnot limited to the illustrated system constitution and it is understoodthat low-cost, suitable applications are made possible throughoptimization of each object each application in the fields such ascoatings, dentistry, dermatology, and so forth.

FIG. 95 shows an example in which an additional attachment adapter 4Acan be detachably linked to the tip of a unit 251E constituted insubstantially the same way as unit 251D shown in FIG. 94. Thisattachment adapter 4A is used, in this example, when attaching the tipof photography device 1 to the object, and has a light-shieldingfunction that prevents external light from being irradiated onto theobject.

Thus, any one or more of the illumination light source, the photographyoptical system, the image pickup element section, and the photographyoperation section can be constituted as a detachable unit.

Further, because each detachable unit is a detachable-type unit, aplurality of types can be prepared beforehand and a more suitabledetachable unit can be properly used in accordance with the appliedapplication. Further, a storage element is integrated in the detachableunit and a variety of information, which include an ID number, type,usage time, initial information (light source output, wavelength, andelectrical conditions (the current value, lighting pattern, forwardvoltage, and so forth that are required in order to emit light of thepredetermined light amount), and degradation information, are pre-storedtherein and read from the storage element during use, and conditions forperforming the optimum image photography can be set on the basis of theinformation thus read. Further, a variety of information produced in thecourse of use can also be recorded in the storage element. Further, thetype of the detachable unit that is mounted can also be displayed byusing display means such as the LCD monitor 16 as mode display meansand, in this case, the type can be more clearly confirmed.

The detachable unit is not limited to these examples and can beintegrated by adopting another constitution. Here, providing atemperature detector serving as temperature detection means in thevicinity of the illumination light source, for example, measuring thetemperature of the illumination light source, comparing the measurementresult with the temperature characteristic of the illumination lightsource, and driving the light source to produce the optimum illuminationcharacteristic may be considered. Because a temperature changeattributable to variations in brightness can be detected and correctedby performing such control, the measurement accuracy can be improved.Further, spectroscopic detection means for performing spectroscopicdetection on light from the object can also be provided in thedetachable unit.

The strobe light emission device 65 can be mounted at the front of theenclosure 5 constituting the device main body of the photography device1B but, in a state where the strobe light emission device 65 is notmounted, spectral detection of the ambient light can be performed by thespectral detection sensor 46 built into the photography device 1Bbecause the integrating sphere 48 c is exposed to the outside. Further,in a state where the strobe light emission device 65 is mounted,spectral detection of the strobe light is performed by the spectraldetection sensor 46 because a portion of the strobe light is guided tothe integrating sphere 48 c.

The strobe light emission device 65 comprises, as shown in FIG. 46, adetachable mount section 65 a at the front face section of the enclosure5 of the photography device 1B, a reflective umbrella 63, a ring-shapedstrobe light emission tube 62, a strobe light emission circuit (notillustrated) having a light-emitting charge condenser, and a connectingcable 64 for an electrical connection (supply/control signals)connecting the strobe light emission circuit with the photographicdevice 1B side.

Further, the electrical connection between the photography device 1B andthe strobe light emission device 65 is made via a connector by means ofthe connecting cable 64 after mounting the strobe light emission device65. However, a structure in which a connection electrode section is alsodisposed on the mount section of the strobe device such that theelectrode section automatically enters a connected state when the strobelight emission device 65 is mounted in the enclosure 5 may also beadopted.

The electrically connected state afforded by the connecting cable 64 orthe electrically connected state resulting from mounting the strobelight emission device 65 in the enclosure 5 is identified by the CPU 18on the photography device 1B side via the camera control I/F 12 and theidentification code of the strobe is sensed. The system constitution ofthe photography device currently stored by the strobe identificationcode is updated by the identification code.

A portion toward the rear of the reflective umbrella is open and awaveguide 66 that guides the strobe light backward is formed. Whenstrobe light is emitted, a portion of the strobe light passes throughthe waveguide 66 and enters the integrating sphere 48 c constituting thedetection section provided at the tip of the optical fiber 48 of thespectral detection sensor 46, and the spectral component of the strobelight is detected by the spectral detection sensor 46.

The photography processing operation by the photography device 1B of theimage processing system of the sixth embodiment with the abovementionedconstitution will be described next in accordance with the flowcharts ofFIGS. 47 and 48.

When spectroscopic image data of the object is acquired by thephotography device 1B, the supply switch of the photography device 1B isturned on first. As a resulting of turning on the supply switch, thephotography preparation processing routine of FIG. 47 is started underthe control by the CPU 18.

The CPU 18 captures system constitution data in step S101 and parametersettings (initialization) are made in step S102. A check is made todetermine whether the strobe light emission device 65 is mounted in thephotography device 1B in step S103. In cases where a strobe is notmounted, the processing jumps without further processing to step S106.However, when a strobe is mounted, the processing moves to step S104.

Power is supplied to the strobe light emission circuit in step S104 andcharging of the light emission charge condenser is started. When chargecompletion is confirmed in step S105, the processing moves to step S106and a display regarding the completion of photography preparations isdisplayed on the LCD monitor 16. In step S107, standby is implementedwith the LCD monitor 16 in a monitor display state.

Thereafter, when the photography button 14 a of the photography device1B is operated as a result of being pressed by the photographer and aphotography start indication signal is input, the photography processingroutine of FIG. 48 is started under the control by the CPU 18.

The existence of a mounted strobe is checked in step S111 and, when astrobe is not mounted, the processing jumps to step S116. When a strobeis mounted, the processing moves to step S112.

Exposure of the CCD 8 is started in step S112 and the strobe lightemission of the strobe light emission device 65 is started in step S113.Further, in step S114, a portion of the strobe emission light passesthrough the waveguide 66 and is captured from the integrating sphere 48c by the spectral detection sensor 46, and spectroscopic spectral dataof the strobe emission light is acquired. After the required exposuretime has elapsed, exposure is ended in step S115 and the photographyprocessing ends.

On the other hand, when the processing jumps to step S116, because thestrobe light emission device 65 is in an unmounted state, spectroscopicspectral data of the ambient light is acquired by the spectral detectionsensor 46. In step S117, the LED cluster 6X is turned on in theabovementioned desired light emission mode and the exposure of the CCD 8is started. This photography processing ends when the exposure ends instep S118.

Further, although not illustrated in FIG. 46, the spectral detectionsensor 47 shown in FIG. 38 is built into the photography device 1B andthe spectroscopic spectral data of the illumination light of the LEDcluster 6X is also acquired at the same time by the spectral detectionsensor 47.

After the photography processing has ended, the photographic image dataand illumination light spectroscopic spectral data captured by thememory 11 of the photography device 1B is transmitted via the externalI/F 17 to the processing device 2B where illumination lightspectroscopic spectral data and camera characteristic data and objectcharacteristic data are added to the photographic image data andspectroscopic image data are determined by means of computation.

The image processing system of the sixth embodiment described aboveallows an object to be photographed by mounting the strobe lightemission device 65 in the photography device 1B even when the objectdistance is comparatively remote and there is a lack of brightness inthe emission light of the LED cluster 6X. Moreover, because thespectroscopic image data are computed on the basis of the spectroscopicspectral data of the strobe light acquired for each strobe lightemission, highly accurate color reproduction is possible by beingperformed based on spectroscopic image data in which variations in thespectral of each light emission and variations in the light emissionspectral of the strobe light emission device 65 itself have beencorrected.

Seventh Embodiment

The image processing system of the seventh embodiment of the presentinvention will be described next with reference to FIGS. 49 to 52. Inthe seventh embodiment, the same numerals are assigned to the parts thatare the same as those of the first to sixth embodiments above and adescription thereof will be omitted. Only the differences are mainlydescribed.

FIG. 49 is a block constitutional view of the image processing system ofthis embodiment. FIGS. 50A and 50B show states when a regular reflectionobject is illuminated with LED light of each color by means of thephotography device of the image processing system in FIG. 49, where FIG.50A shows the disposition of the regular reflection object, the LEDs ofeach color and the CCD during image formation and FIG. 50B shows animage with a regular reflection part formed on the CCD. FIG. 51 shows anobject image in which a regular reflection part exists being caused byillumination by LEDs of each color on the image formation surface of theCCD and an object image rendered by deleting the regular reflection partfrom the object image by the photography device of the image processingsystem. FIG. 52 is a flowchart of the regular reflection part deletionprocessing of the photography device.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1C that constitutes an image acquisition section that allows aspectroscopic image unaffected by regular reflection to be photographedas shown in FIG. 49 and a processing device 2C constituting an imageprocessing section that comprises an image memory and is for determininghighly accurate color reproduction image data from an objectspectroscopic image signal produced by the photography by thephotography device 1C.

The processing device 2C has the same constitution and functions as theprocessing device 2 applied to the image processing system of the firstembodiment or the like and may use a personal computer.

The photography device 1C has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 49. However, in the case of the photography device 1C inparticular, a processing operation for regular reflection image dataacquired as will be described subsequently is performed. Further, theconstituent elements of the photography device 1C that are the same asthose of the photography device 1 are described by assigning the samenumerals to such elements.

The photography device 1C is able to determine image data withoutregular reflection parts by means of synthesis by deleting from theimage data high brightness parts resulting from regular reflection ofthe illumination light from each of the LEDs of the LED cluster 6X evenwhen object 71 is an object with a glossy curved surface that causesregular reflection. The image processing will be described hereinbelow.

For example, when the illumination light of LEDs 6 a 1, 6 a 2, 6 a 3,and 6 a 4 arranged in different ring-shape positions as an example isirradiated onto the abovementioned regular-reflection object 71, lightof the same wavelength is emitted from each of the LEDs. When the lightis subjected to regular reflection by the object 71, colored highbrightness points are formed in different positions on the imageformation surface of the CCD 8. That is, high brightness points Pa, Pb,Pc, and Pd that correspond to LEDs 6 a 1, 6 a 2, 6 a 3, and 6 a 4 areproduced in different positions on image Z in FIG. 50B.

In the photography device 1C, the high brightness points Pa, Pb, Pc, andPd resulting from the abovementioned regular reflection are removed bythe regular reflection section deletion processing. When the deletionprocessing is described by means of FIG. 51, the regular reflectionimage of object 71 caused by the emission light of LED 6 a 1 is firstshown by the high brightness point Pa on the CCD image formation planeZ1. Similarly, the regular reflection images of object 71 resulting fromthe emission light of each of the LEDs 6 a 2, 6 a 3, 6 a 4 are shown bythe high brightness points Pb, Pc, and Pd on the CCD image formationplanes Z2, Z3, and Z4 respectively. The remaining image data afterremoving the pixel data of the high brightness points Pa, Pb, Pc, and Pdare added or averaged to obtain spectroscopic image data (Z0 on CCDimage formation plane) of object 71 that have been corrected to removeregular reflection high brightness parts.

The regular reflection section deletion processing will now be describedby using the flowchart in FIG. 52. First, LED 6 a 1 is lit in step S131and the image data at this time is acquired in step S132. Thereafter,LEDs 6 a 2, LED 6 a 3, and LED 6 a 4 are lit sequentially in steps S133to S138 and the respective image data when each LED emits light areacquired. Spectroscopic image data from which regular reflection hasbeen removed by generating image data excluding high brightness parts isobtained from each of the acquired image data in step S139. Further, theabovementioned example represents a case where there are four LED lightsources but processing can also be performed in the same way in caseswhere there are other numbers of light sources.

The photography device 1C in the image processing system of the seventhembodiment is able to obtain spectroscopic image data without regularreflection parts by performing the regular reflection deletionprocessing mentioned above on the image data acquired even when object71 is a regular reflection object.

Eighth Embodiment

The image processing system of an eighth embodiment of the presentinvention will be described next by using FIGS. 53, 54, and 96. In theeighth embodiment, the same numerals are assigned to the parts that arethe same as those of the first to seventh embodiments above and adescription thereof will be omitted. Only the differences are mainlydescribed.

Further, FIG. 53 is a block diagram of the image processing system ofthis embodiment and FIG. 54 shows a reflection state of light on theregular reflection object.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1D constituting an image photography section capable ofphotographing a spectroscopic image of a regular reflection object, anda processing device 2D constituting an image processing section fordetermining highly accurate color reproduction image data from aspectroscopic image signal of the object that is photographed by thephotography device 1D, as shown in FIG. 53.

The processing device 2D has the same constitution and functions as theprocessing device 2 applied to the image processing system of the firstembodiment or the like and may use a personal computer.

The photography device 1D has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 53. Additionally, a first polarizing plate 75 constitutingrotatable reflected light removal means is disposed in front of the LEDcluster 6X constituting the illumination light source and a secondpolarizing plate 76 constituting reflected light removal means isdisposed in front of the CCD 8, in order to cut the regular reflectionlight.

Constituent elements of the photography device 1D that are the same asthose of the photography device 1 are indicated by means of the samenumerals.

When spectroscopic image data are acquired, spectroscopic image data aredetermined by detecting diffuse-reflected light on the basis of thespectroscopic reflectance of the object surface. However, when thesurface of the object 71 is a surface similar to a mirror surface, theillumination light emitted toward the object 71 from the LED 6 a asshown in FIG. 54 is reflected as diffuse-reflected light R1 and R3(denoted by the short arrows in FIG. 54) at points Qa and Qb, forexample, of the object surface but a portion of the illumination lightis reflected as regular reflection light R2 and R4 (denoted by the longarrows in FIG. 54). The regular reflection light R2 and R4 is reflectedin a direction symmetrical to the incident angle of the illuminationlight and has substantially the same spectral as the spectral of theillumination light. Further, the components of the regular reflectionlight R2 and R4 are larger than the components of the regular reflectionlight R1 and R3 and are an obstacle to the measurement of thespectroscopic reflectance of the object. The regular reflection light R4does not influence because the reflection direction is not toward theCCD 8 but the other regular reflection light R2 is transmitted by thephotography optical system 7 and captured by the CCD 8 such that pointQa in the photographic image is photographed as a high brightness point.Therefore, if the regular reflection light component produced by thestate of the surface of object 71 is not removed, suitable spectroscopicimage data cannot be acquired.

Therefore, in the case of the photography device 1D of this embodiment,the regular reflection light component is cut so as not to enter the CCD8 by disposing the first polarizing plate 75 in front of the LED cluster6X and the second polarizing plate 76 in front of the CCD 8 as mentionedearlier. That is, illumination light from the LED cluster 6X ispolarized by the first polarizing plate 75. The light diffuse-reflectedby the surface of the object 71 has various polarization directions butthe regular reflection light enters the photography optical system 7while retaining a unidirectional polarized state. The first polarizingplate 75 is disposed following rotational adjustment with respect to thesecond polarizing plate 76 and the polarized regular reflection light isremoved by the second polarizing plate 76. Then, only thediffuse-reflected light enters the CCD 8 and an object image withouthigh brightness parts caused by regular reflection is photographed.

FIG. 96 shows an example in which the inserted state of a polarizingplate is displayed on the display means.

In this example, a text-containing mark 261 is displayed to make itpossible to confirm whether both the first polarizing plate 75 andsecond polarizing plate 76 are inserted in the light path and to make itpossible to confirm at what kind of relative rotation angle thepolarizing plates 75 and 76 are inserted. This example shows that thepolarizing plates 75 and 76 are inserted in the light path at a relative90-degree angle. Further, the display of the insertion state ofpolarizing plates 75 and 76 is not limited to the example shown in FIG.96.

When the photography device 1D of the image processing system of theeighth embodiment is applied as above, a high brightness section causedby regular reflection light is not produced in the photographic imageeven when the object 71 has a glossy surface, whereby suitablespectroscopic image data are acquired and high brightness colorreproduction is possible.

Further, although the second polarizing plate 76 is disposed between thephotography optical system 7 and the CCD 8 in the photography device 1D,the same effect is also obtained by adopting a constitution in which thesecond polarizing plate 76 is disposed on the side of the object 71 infront of the photography optical system 7.

Ninth Embodiment

The image processing system constituting a ninth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next by using FIGS. 55 and 56. Inthe ninth embodiment, the same numerals are assigned to the parts thatare the same as those of the first to eighth embodiments above and adescription thereof will be omitted. Only the differences are mainlydescribed.

Further, FIG. 55 is a block constitutional diagram of the imageprocessing system of this embodiment and FIG. 56 is a front view of asecond polarizing plate that is disposed in front of the CCD in thephotography device of the image processing system in FIG. 55.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1E constituting an image photography section capable ofphotographing a spectroscopic image rendered by visible light and nearinfrared light of a regular reflection object, and a processing device2E constituting an image processing section for determining highlyaccurate color reproduction image data from a spectroscopic image signalof the object that is photographed by the photography device 1E, asshown in FIG. 55.

The processing device 2E has the same constitution and functions as theprocessing device 2 applied to the image processing system of the firstembodiment or the like and may use a personal computer.

The photography device 1E has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 55. Additionally, in the photography device 1E, an LED 6 gconstituting a near infrared light source is disposed in the peripheryof the photography optical system 7 in addition to the LED cluster 6Xconstituting a visible light source as the illumination light source.Further, a first polarizing plate 81 constituting reflected lightremoval means is disposed in front of the LED cluster 6X and a firstpolarizing plate 82 is disposed in front of the LED 6 g, in order to cutthe regular reflection light. Further, a rotatable polarizing plate dial85 (FIG. 56) on which second polarizing plates 83 and 84 constitutingreflected light removal means are mounted is disposed in front of theCCD 8.

The same numerals are assigned to the constituent elements of thephotography device 1E that are the same as those of the photographydevice 1 and a description of such elements is suitably omitted. Onlythe different processing parts are mainly described hereinbelow.

The photography device 1E is capable of acquiring spectroscopic imagedata rendered by visible light by turning on the LED cluster 6X and isable to acquire spectroscopic image data rendered by near infrared lightby turning on the LED 6 g.

Here, when the object is glossy object 71, regular reflection light iscaptured and a high brightness section is produced in the image data.However, the photography device 1E is able to remove regular reflectionlight not only from object images rendered by visible light but alsofrom an object image rendered by near infrared light. Hence, thephotography device 1E is able to capture suitable spectroscopic imagedata without a high brightness section in either case.

In the photography device 1E, the second polarizing plate 83 for visiblelight and the second polarizing plate 84 for near infrared light aremounted on the polarizing plate dial 85.

When photography using visible light is performed by the photographydevice 1E, the polarizing plate dial 85 is rotated manually in thedirection of the arrow D1, for example, to switch the visible-lightsecond polarizing plate 83 to face the CCD 8. Following the switch, thevisible-light first polarizing plate 81 is adjusted by rotating thevisible-light second polarizing plate 83 via a central rotating roller86 by rotatively operating the near-infrared second polarizing plate 84that protrudes outside the photography device enclosure.

Therefore, when the visible light LED cluster 6X is lit in accordancewith a predetermined light emission mode, light transmitted by the firstpolarizing plate 81 is reflected by the object 71 and enters thephotography optical system 7. The diffused light component of thereflected light is transmitted by the second polarizing plate 83 but theregular reflection light component is removed by the second polarizingplate 83. Therefore, the object image rendered by visible light withouta high brightness section caused by regular reflection is converted intoan image pickup signal by the CCD 8 and captured as spectroscopic imagedata.

On the other hand, when photography rendered by near infrared light isperformed, the polarizing plate dial 85 is rotated manually to cause thenear infrared second polarizing plate 84 to face the CCD 8. Further, thenear infrared first polarizing plate 82 is adjusted by rotating the nearinfrared second polarizing plate 84 via the central rotating roller 86by rotatively operating the visible-light second polarizing plate 83that protrudes outside the photography device enclosure.

Then, when the near infrared light LED 6 g is lit in accordance with apredetermined light emission mode, the near infrared light transmittedby the first polarizing plate 82 is reflected by the object 71 andenters the photography optical system 7. The diffused light component ofthe near infrared light is transmitted by the second polarizing plate 84but the regular reflection light component is removed by the secondpolarizing plate 84. Therefore, the object image rendered by the nearinfrared light without a high brightness section caused by regularreflection is converted into an image pickup signal by the CCD 8 andcaptured as spectroscopic image data.

The photography device 1E of the image processing system of the ninthembodiment is capable of performing photography by means of a nearinfrared light source in addition to photography by means of a visiblelight source and is capable of acquiring spectroscopic image data bycapturing an object image without a high brightness section in which theeffect of regular reflection is suppressed by means of both lightsources even for a regular reflection glossy object, whereby highlyaccurate color reproduction is possible.

In particular, the polarizing plate applied to the photography device 1Eneed not employ such a costly polarizing plate as having thepolarization characteristic with respect to all wavelengths coveringvisible light and near infrared light. The low-cost visible-light firstpolarizing plate 81 and second polarizing plate 83 are applied to thevisible light source and the near infrared first polarizing plate 82 andsecond polarizing plate 84 are applied to the near infrared light sourceand, therefore, product costs can be suppressed.

Tenth Embodiment

An image processing system which is a tenth embodiment of the presentinvention will be described next with reference to FIGS. 57 to 59B. Inthe tenth embodiment, the same numerals are assigned to the parts thatare the same as those of the first to ninth embodiments above and adescription thereof will be omitted. Only the differences are mainlydescribed.

Further, FIG. 57 is a block constitutional view of the image processingsystem of this embodiment. FIGS. 58A and 58B show an aspect beforecorrection of the state of a shading performed by an LED light source ofthe photography device of the image processing system, and FIGS. 59A and59B show an aspect following correction of the state of a shadingperformed by an LED light source of the photography device of the imageprocessing system.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1F constituting an image photography section and a photographydevice (not illustrated) constituting an image processing section fordetermining highly accurate color reproduction image data from thespectroscopic image signal of the object photographed by the photographydevice 1F.

The photography device 1F has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 57. Additionally, in the photography device 1F, a shadingcorrective lens 88 constituting an optical member that alleviates theillumination mirror is mounted in front of the LED cluster 6Xconstituting the illumination light source.

Further, the constituent elements of the photography device 1F that arethe same as those of the photography device 1 are described by assigningthe same numerals to these elements.

When LED 6 a and LED 6 d in the LED cluster 6X disposed in mutuallydifferent positions are lit separately, for example, in a state wherethe shading corrective lens 88 is not mounted in the photography device1F, the state of illumination of the object is such that different partssuch as the top left of screen G1 and the top right of screen G2 aremore brightly irradiated than other parts as shown in FIGS. 58A and 58B.When this phenomenon is not corrected, there is the problem that correctmeasurement is not possible because the intensity distribution of theobserved spectrals is different depending on positions on the screen.

Therefore, the shading corrective lens 88 is mounted in front of the LEDcluster 6X, as mentioned earlier, in the photography device 1F.Illumination light from LED 6 a or LED 6 d is adjusted by mounting theshading corrective lens 88 and the correction is such that respectiveclear parts are concentrated in the center of the screen as shown inscreens G3 and G4 of FIGS. 59A and 59B respectively. The effect of thelight source position is alleviated with the illumination lightcorrected, meaning that there are no errors in the spectral intensitydistribution caused by the position on the screen and correctmeasurement is implemented. The highly accurate spectroscopic image datacan be acquired.

Further, there are sometimes cases where shading affected by theillumination position still remains even when the constitution of thephotography device 1F of this embodiment is adopted. In this case,photography is performed with a white sheet or the like serving as theobject and shading correction data with respect to screen position ofeach LED of the LED cluster 6X is calculated on the basis of the imagedata obtained. Further, more accurate correction is possible ifelectrical shading correction is performed for each LED.

Although usage of optical shading correction and image processingshading correction are combined in the earlier example, the samecorrection results can also be obtained by executing shading correctionby means of image processing alone without using the shading correctionoptical system 88.

Further, shading correction can also be performed by using a diffuserinstead of the shading correction optical system (lens) 88.

Eleventh Embodiment

The image processing system constituting an eleventh embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next by using FIGS. 60 and 61. Inthe eleventh embodiment, the same numerals are assigned to the partsthat are the same as those of the first to tenth embodiments above and adescription thereof will be omitted. Only the differences are mainlydescribed.

FIG. 60 is a block constitutional view of the image processing system ofthis embodiment. FIG. 61 shows the disposition of LED light sourcesections of the photography device in the image processing system.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1G constituting an image photography section, a dark room 91constituting a photography room, and a photography device (notillustrated) constituting an image processing section for determininghighly accurate color reproduction image data from the spectroscopicimage signal of the object photographed by the photography device 1G.

The photography device 1G has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 60. Additionally, a connection terminal section (connectsection) 90 for a connection with the illumination light source in thedark room 91 is installed in the photography device 1G. Further, theconstituent elements of the photography device 1G that are the same asthose of the photography device 1 are described by assigning the samenumerals to such elements.

Furthermore, the photography device has the same constitution as theprocessing device 2 applied to the image processing system of the firstembodiment or the like and may use a personal computer.

The dark room 91 has a space into which the patient 59 is introduced,for example, and has a structure that blocks light from the outside, forexample. A plurality of illumination devices 92 which are externalillumination devices are disposed in the dark room 91.

A plurality of sets of LEDs 96 a to 96 f of the same light emissionwavelength as those of the first LED 6 a to the sixth LED 6 frespectively constituting the LED cluster 6X built into the photographydevice 1G as shown in FIG. 61 are arranged in the illumination device92. In FIG. 61, the circle symbols represent each of the LEDs. The samepattern design of the circle symbols represents an LED with the samelight emission wavelength. As shown in FIG. 61, the pluralities of setsof LEDs 96 a to 96 f are distributed within the illumination device 92equally without bias, which generally enables a surface-light emission.The power supply to the LEDs 96 a to LED 96 f is supplied via aconnection connector 93. When the photography device 1G is mounted inthe dark room 91, the connection connector 93 is connected to aconnection terminal section 90 on the side of the photography device 1G.

When photography is performed by the photography device 1G with theabovementioned constitution, the photography device 1G is firstinstalled in the dark room 91 and each LED of the illumination device 92is set in a lit state. The patient 59, who is the object, is thenintroduced to the dark room 91.

Then, the required part of the patient 59 is photographed by lightingeach LED of the illumination device 92 and the desired spectroscopicimage data are obtained, wherein the order of lighting the respectiveLEDs of the illumination device 92 at such time is the lighting timingof the LED cluster 6X in the photography device 1G that is lit inaccordance with the light emission mode of the photography device 1G.

According to the image processing system of the abovementioned eleventhembodiment, accurate color measurement is possible in a state whereambient light has no effect even when the object size is large, wherebyhighly accurate color reproduction is possible. Further, the dark room91 may be a simple device in which only a mount section having theconnector section 93 of the photography device 1 and the illuminationdevice 92 are provided, whereby an inexpensive image processing systemthat allows large objects to be photographed is obtained.

If a wide-angle photography optical system is applied to the photographyoptical system 7 of the photography device 1G, the photographic rangewidens, whereby photography of a larger object, for example, a largearticle such as an automobile body is permitted.

Twelfth Embodiment

An image processing system constituting a twelfth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next by using the blockconstitutional view of FIG. 62. In this twelfth embodiment, the samenumerals are assigned to the parts that are the same as those of thefirst to eleventh embodiments above and a description thereof will beomitted. Only the differences are mainly described.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1H constituting an image photography section, and a processingdevice 2H constituting an image processing section for determininghighly accurate color reproduction image data from a spectroscopic imagesignal of the object photographed by the photography device 1H andjudging the state of the object in accordance with the image data.

The photography device 1H has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 62. Further, in the photography device 1H, a plurality of LEDs 6h constituting a near infrared light source with a center wavelength of780 nm to 900 nm are disposed in the periphery of the photographyoptical system 7 in addition to the plurality of LED clusters 6Xconstituting visible light sources as illumination light sources.Further, the constituent elements of the photography device 1H that arethe same as those of the photography device 1 are described by assigningthe same numerals to such elements.

Furthermore, the processing device 2H is the same as the processingdevice 2 applied to the image processing system of the first embodimentor the like and may use a personal computer.

In the photography device 1H, when an LED cluster 6X constituting thevisible light source is lit by means of a predetermined light emissionmode, visible spectroscopic image data is acquired. Further, when thebody surface of patient 95 constituting the object is irradiated byturning on the LED 6 h constituting a near infrared light source, nearinfrared spectroscopic image data are obtained.

During photography by means of near infrared light, the LED 6 h iscontinuously lit with the photography device 1H in near infrared lightphotography mode. Image data of thirty frames per second of the surfaceof the body of the patient 95 are captured in this state and thendisplayed. The acquired image is displayed as a monochrome image on theLCD monitor 16 and the display 22 of the processing device 2H.

The near infrared light of a center wavelength of 780 nm to 900 nm ofLED 6 h above reaches a deep part of the body surface in comparison withvisible light and, hence, the state of a subcutaneous blood vessel 95 abelow the skin can be photographed. For example, when the photographydevice 1H is set in a blood flow observation mode, for example, theblood flow state of the subcutaneous blood vessel 95 a can be observedon the display 22 by means of the thirty-frames per second moving imagedata. Further, the blood flow state can also be directly observed bymeans of a monochrome image on the LCD monitor 16 of the photographydevice.

In the case of the image processing system of the twelfth embodiment,the judgment processing of the blood flow state can also beautomatically performed, the LED 6 h can be lit for a predetermined timeas a result of the photographer operating the operating switch 14 of thephotography device 1H by pressing the operating switch 14, and movingimage data rendered by means of the photographed near infrared light istransferred to the processing device 2H. The processing device 2Hdiscriminates a blood flow state by computing the moving image data.

Further, the image processing system of the twelfth embodiment is alsocapable of finding the pulse rate or heart rate by processing the movingimage data of the blood flow state in addition to the discriminationprocessing of the blood flow state.

Thirteenth Embodiment

The image processing system constituting a thirteenth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next by using the blockconstitutional view of FIG. 63. In this thirteenth embodiment, the samenumerals are assigned to the parts that are the same as those of thefirst to twelfth embodiments above and a description thereof will beomitted. Only the differences are mainly described.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1J constituting an image photography section, and a processingdevice 2J constituting an image processing section for determininghighly accurate color reproduction image data from a spectroscopic imagesignal of the object photographed by the photography device 1J andjudging the surface state of the object on the basis of the image data.

The photography device 1J has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 63. Further, in the photography device 1J, a plurality of LEDs 6j constituting an ultraviolet light source with a center wavelength of300 nm to 380 nm are disposed in the periphery of the photographyoptical system 7, in addition to the plurality of LED clusters 6Xconstituting visible light sources as illumination light sources. Theconstituent elements of the photography device 1J that are the same asthose of the photography device 1 are described hereinbelow by assigningthe same numerals to such elements.

Furthermore, the processing device 2J is the same as the processingdevice 2 applied to the image processing system of the first embodimentor the like.

In the photography device 1J, when an LED cluster 6X constituting thevisible light source is lit by means of a predetermined light emissionmode, visible spectroscopic image data is acquired. Further, when thesurface 98 a of an examined member 98 constituting the object isirradiated by turning on the LED 6 j constituting an ultraviolet lightsource, ultraviolet spectroscopic image data are obtained.

When photography by means of ultraviolet light is performed, the LED 6 jis lit with the photography device 1J in ultraviolet light photographymode. Image data of the surface 98 a of the examined member 98 arecaptured in this state and then displayed. The acquired image isdisplayed as a monochrome image on the LCD monitor 16 and the display 22of the processing device 2J.

The ultraviolet light of a center wavelength of 300 nm to 380 nm of LED6 j above undergoes scatter reflection at a more shallow point from thesurface of the object in comparison with that of visible light and,therefore, the state of the object surface such as a fine surface flawcan be observed by means of the photographic image.

Further, a photography device of a modified example, which combines thephotography devices 1H and 1J applied to the twelfth and thirteenthembodiments respectively, can be proposed. In the photography device ofthe modified example, the LED 6 h, which constitutes a near infraredlight source, and the LED 6 j, which constitutes an ultraviolet lightsource, are disposed in the periphery of the photography optical system7 in addition to the visible light LED cluster 6X as light sources.

According to the photography device of the modified example, becausespectroscopic image data of objects of a wide range of types can beobtained, patient blood flow observation and surface flaw of theexamined member and so forth of the detected member can be performed bymeans of the same photography device.

Here, FIG. 97 shows an example in which light emission of infrared lightand ultraviolet light emission, which are applied to the twelfth andthirteenth embodiments, are displayed.

Selectable LED light emission modes include an infrared mode that causesinfrared light to be emitted and an ultraviolet mode that causesultraviolet light to be emitted. Further, the type of LED light emissionmode in which light emission is performed and wavelength information foreach type of LED light emission mode are displayed.

More specifically, in this example, it is explicitly displaying the factthat near infrared light of wavelength 900 nm is being emitted by meansof text 262 such as ‘IR 900’ and by displaying the fact that ultravioletlight of wavelength 340 nm is being emitted by means of text 263 such as‘UV 340’. Naturally, the display for the light emission of near infraredlight and ultraviolet light or the like is not limited to the exampleshown in FIG. 97.

Fourteenth Embodiment

The image processing system constituting a fourteenth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next by using the blockconstitutional view of FIG. 64. In this fourteenth embodiment, the samenumerals are assigned to the parts that are the same as those of thefirst to thirteenth embodiments above and a description thereof will beomitted. Only the differences are mainly described.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1K constituting an image photography section, and a processingdevice 2K constituting an image processing section for determininghighly accurate color reproduction image data from a spectroscopic imagesignal of the object photographed by the photography device 1K.

The photography device 1K has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 64. However, also disposed in the photography device 1K is acolor chart 101 that is freely turnably supported by a support spindle102 in the opening 5 a of the enclosure 5 and on which reference colorsused for calibration are disposed.

Further, the constituent elements of the photography device 1K that arethe same as those of the photography device 1 are described by assigningthe same numerals to such elements.

The processing device 2K is the same as the processing device 2 appliedto the image processing system of the first embodiment or the like.

The photography device 1K of this embodiment contains the abovementionedcolor chart 101 in the enclosure 5 so that the color chart storagemanagement that is conventionally difficult is no longer required anddegradation caused by dirt of color chart and external light can beprevented and, when the color chart 101 is not employed, the same iswithdrawn from the projection opening 5 a of the photography opticalsystem 7 within the enclosure 5 and stored. In the stored state, thecolor chart 101 is withdrawn outside the illumination light path of theLED cluster 6X and the illumination light illuminating the object 103 isnot obstructed. Further, the color chart 101 is turned toward theprojection opening 5 a of the photography optical system 7 as shown inFIG. 64 only during calibration. The image data of the color chart 101is captured via the CCD 8 in this state and spectroscopic image data forcolor calibration is acquired.

According to the photography device 1K of the fourteenth embodiment,storage management of the color chart 101 is not required, dirt does notreadily stick because the color chart 101 is not handled by hand, andcolors are not degraded even if exposed to external light, wherebycalibration of colors that are always accurate is possible.

Further, although the color chart 101 is turnably supported in theenclosure 5 in the photography device 1K of this embodiment, aconstitution in which the color chart is stuck to the inside surface ofa lens cap (not shown) that is detachable from the projection opening 5a of the enclosure 5 can also be adopted instead. In this case, thecalibration is performed in a state where the lens cap is mounted.

Fifteenth Embodiment

An image processing system constituting a fifteenth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next by using the systemconstitutional view of FIG. 65. In this fifteenth embodiment, the samenumerals are assigned to the parts that are the same as those of thefirst to fourteenth embodiments above and a description thereof will beomitted. Only the differences are mainly described.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1L constituting an image photography section, a cellular phone110 that is connected via a cable 112 to the photography device 1L, andan in-house processing system 119 that is capable of communicating withthe cellular phone 110.

The in-house processing system 119 comprises an in-house communicationdevice 115, a processing device 116, a database 117, and a monitor 118.

The photography device 1K has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 65. Further, the same constituent elements of the photographydevice 1K are described by assigning the same numerals to such elements.

The cellular phone 110 transmits spectroscopic image data rendered byphotographing the affected part of the patient acquired by thephotography device 1L to the in-house communication device 115 of thein-house processing system 119 by means of a public switched network.Further, an LCD monitor 111 is provided in the cellular phone 110.

The processing device 116 of the in-house processing system 119 is animage processing section for determining highly accurate colorreproduction data based on the spectroscopic image signal of theaffected part received via the in-house communication device 115 and hasthe same constitution as that of the processing device 2 applied to thefirst embodiment or the like.

The spectroscopic image data processing operation of the imageprocessing system of the fifteenth embodiment with the aboveconstitution will be described hereinbelow by dividing the respectiveprocessing into steps of the processing of the cellular phone 110, theprocessing of the in-house processing system 119, and the processing ofthe photography device 1L.

When this is described based on the processing step of the cellularphone 110, the ID of the photography device 1L is first confirmed whenthe cellular phone 110 is connected to the photography device 1L. If theID is invalid, an error message is output. If the cellular phone 110 andphotography device 1L are matched, the cellular phone 110 is set tophotography mode, and the settings are such that the monitor 111 of thecellular phone functions as the monitor of the photography device 1L,and the operating button of the cellular phone functions as theoperating switch of the photography device 1L.

A connection request is output via a public switched network to thepreset in-house processing system 119. A connection is established whenauthentication by the in-house processing system 119 has ended.

Thereafter, the monitor image from the photography device 1L isdisplayed on the monitor 111 of the cellular phone 110 and photographypreparations are complete.

When the photography button 14 a of the photography device 1L isoperated by the user by being pressed, the output of photographic imagedata from the photography device 1L is awaited. When photographic imagedata are output, the image data are displayed on the monitor 111. Theimage data are transmitted to the side of the in-house processing system119 and a user operation is awaited.

When an image database search request of the in-house processing system119 is effected as a result of a user operation, the database 117 of thein-house processing system 119 is accessed, and information of thedatabase 117 is acquired and displayed on the monitor 118.

In addition, a search request is output to the database 117 as a resultof the user operation. The search result from the database is receivedand displayed on the monitor 111.

Thereafter, when the processing step on the side of the in-houseprocessing system 119 is described, a connection request from thecellular phone 110 is first received and the ID of the cellular phone isconfirmed. If the ID is invalid, an error message is output and theconnection is disconnected. The ID of the photography device 1D isfurther confirmed. If the ID of the photography device 1D is invalid, anerror message is output and the connection is disconnected.

Thereafter, authentication information is requested and authenticationinformation input by the user is confirmed. If the authenticationinformation is invalid, an error message is output and the connection isdisconnected. If the authentication information is not invalid, aconnection is established and a transmission from the cellular phone 110is awaited.

When photography is performed by the photography device 1L, image datafrom the cellular phone 110 is received.

The received image data are recorded in the database 117 together withthe ID of the cellular phone, the ID of the photography device, and theuser authentication information, and a transmission from the cellularphone 110 is awaited.

When a search request from the cellular phone 110 to the database 117 isreceived, a search of the database 117 is performed, the search resultsare transmitted to the cellular phone 110, and a transmission from thecellular phone 110 is awaited.

Thereafter, when the processing step of the photography device 1L isdescribed, the ID of the cellular phone 110 is confirmed when thecellular phone 110 is connected.

A photography-enable state in which image data from the photographydevice 1L is transmitted to the cellular phone 110 as monitor image datais assumed and the operation of the photography button 14 a or aphotography request from the cellular phone 110 are awaited.

When a photography execution operation by the user is performed, the LEDcluster 6X of the light source section of the photography device 1L isturned on by means of a predetermined sequence, photography is executed,and the acquired photography image data are transmitted to the side ofthe cellular phone 110.

As a result of the constitution of the image processing system of thefifteenth embodiment above, there is no need to dispose a liquid-crystalmonitor in the photography device 1L and the photography device 1L canbe constituted inexpensively. Further, because there is no need to use acable when connecting to the in-house processing system 119, there isgreater handling freedom during photography. Further, because a publicswitched network can be used as the communication line, there is a widerange of locations that can be used. Because the operating buttons ofthe cellular phone 110 can be used, more complex text information suchas names and symptoms can be input.

In addition, speech data may be input together with image data by usingthe microphone of the cellular phone 110. In this case, in addition toit being possible to input information such as comments by means ofspeech, operations can also be performed by means of speech anduser-friendliness improves.

Further, a PHS that is used in-house may be adopted as the cellularphone 110 and a LAN terminal device or PDA device may be used.

Sixteenth Embodiment

An image processing system constituting a sixteenth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next by using a drawing that showsthe constitution of the image photography section applied to the imageprocessing system of FIG. 66. In the sixteenth embodiment, the samenumerals are assigned to the parts that are the same as those of thefirst to fifteenth embodiments above and a description thereof will beomitted. Only the differences are mainly described.

In the image processing system of this embodiment, an illumination unit,in which the image pickup section of the system is the unit, is thedetachable type and, therefore, the LED illumination unit 127constituting the image photography section comprises, as shown in FIG.66, a cellular phone 121 with an attached camera mounted detachably, andan in-house processing system 119 that can communicate with the cellularphone 110.

Further, because the illumination unit is the detachable type, aplurality of types can be prepared beforehand and a more suitableillumination unit can be properly used in accordance with the appliedapplication. Further, a storage element is integrated in theillumination unit and a variety of information such as an ID number,type, usage time, initial information (light source output, wavelength,and electrical conditions (the current value, lighting pattern, forwardvoltage, and so forth that are required in order to emit light of thepredetermined light amount), and degradation information are pre-storedand read from the storage element during use, and conditions forperforming the optimum image photography can be set on the basis of theinformation thus read. Further, a variety of information produced in thecourse of use can also be recorded in the storage element. Further, thetype of the illumination unit that is mounted can also be displayed byusing display means such as the LCD monitor 16 as mode display meansand, in this case, the type can be more clearly confirmed.

The in-house processing system 119 is the same as the system applied tothe fifteenth embodiment shown in FIG. 65 and comprises the in-housecommunication device 115, processing device 116, database 117, andmonitor 118.

The camera-equipped cellular phone 121 has the same photographyprocessing function as the photography processing section of thephotography device 1 (FIG. 1) applied to the image processing system ofthe first embodiment, in a state where the LED illumination unit 127 ismounted. That is, the camera-equipped cellular phone 121 comprises acamera lens 122 constituting a photography optical system, an LCDmonitor 124, an operating switch 123, an antenna 126, and a connectionconnector, and built into the cellular phone 121 are a CCD, an A/Dconversion circuit, an image data memory, a camera control I/F, a datatransceiver circuit, a monitor I/F, an external I/F, and a CPU or thelike that governs the control of the cellular phone, and so forth.

Furthermore, the LED illumination unit 127 that can be mounted on thecamera-equipped cellular phone 121 comprises a close-up lens 128 that isfixed to the main body of the cellular phone 121 by means of a unitfixing tool 131 and is located opposite the camera lens 122 of thecellular phone in the mounted state, an LED cluster 129 disposed alongthe outer circumference of the close-up lens 128, a light-shielding tube132 provided outside the LED cluster 129, and a connecting cable 125that is connected to the connector section of the cellular phone 121.

The LED cluster 129 is an LED cluster of respectively having differentspectroscopic distribution characteristics similarity to those of theLED cluster 6X provided in the photography device 1 of the firstembodiment and is an LED cluster of plural sets of LEDs of six typesthat are equivalent to the blue light source LEDs 6 a and 6 b ofdifferent wavelengths, green light source LEDs 6 a and 6 b of differentwavelengths, and red light source LEDs 6 a and 6 b of differentwavelengths.

The photography operation of the image processing system of thesixteenth embodiment with the abovementioned constitution will bedescribed next.

The operating switch 123 is operated in a state where the LEDillumination unit 127 mounted on the camera-equipped cellular phone 121faces the body surface of the patient constituting the object, the LEDcluster 129 is lit in accordance with a predetermined light emissionorder according to the selected light emission mode and thecorresponding photographic image data of the body surface of the patientare captured during the light emission by the respective LEDs by a CCD(not shown) provided in the cellular phone 121. The image data aretemporarily stored in memory in the cellular phone 121.

Thereafter, spectroscopic image data are transmitted from the antenna126 to the in-house processing system 119 via a public switched networkby operating the operating switch 123. The in-house processing system119 performs image processing that is based on the spectroscopic imagedata and performs high-color reproduction processing.

Further, the exchange of data between the cellular phone 121 andin-house processing system 119 is the same as that of the eleventhembodiment.

According to the image processing system of the twelfth embodiment, adedicated photography device is not required and the photography deviceof the image processing system can be used simply by mounting the LEDillumination unit 127 on a conventional camera-equipped cellular phone,whereby an inexpensive system that employs a public switched network canbe provided.

Further, another camera-equipped terminal device can also be adopted inplace of the cellular phone 121 and examples of such terminal devicesinclude a LAN terminal device, PDA device, or the like, for example.

Seventeenth Embodiment

The image processing system constituting a seventeenth embodiment willbe described next with reference to FIGS. 67 and 98. FIG. 67 is a blockconstitutional view of a photography device that is applied to the imageprocessing system. In the seventeenth embodiment, the same numerals areassigned to the parts that are the same as those of the first tosixteenth embodiments above and a description thereof will be omitted.Only the differences are mainly described.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1M constituting an image photography section, and a processingdevice (not illustrated) constituting an image processing section fordetermining highly accurate color reproduction image data from aspectroscopic image signal of the object that is photographed by thephotography device 1M.

The photography device 1M has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 67. In addition, the photography device 1M is provided with arange sensor 141 constituting range means for measuring the photographicrange L which is the spacing distance between the photography device 1Mand the object 142. Further, the constituent elements among theconstituent elements of the photography device 1M that are the same asthose of the photography device 1 are described by assigning the samenumerals to such elements.

The applied processing device is the same as the processing device 2applied to the image processing system of the first embodiment or thelike.

The photography operation of the image processing system of thisembodiment is performed in accordance with the following processingsteps.

First, the user places the photography device 1M with respect to theobject 142 constituting the body of the patient, measures thephotography distance by means of the range sensor 141, and registers themeasurement result. The differential from the target photographydistance is displayed signed on the monitor 16. The user moves thephotography device 1M while viewing the display of the monitor 16. Whenthe photography distance matches the target photography distance, thereis a display to that effect on the monitor 16 and the photography device1M waits in a photography-capable state. Photography starts when theuser operates the photography button 14 a.

In the case of the image processing system of the seventeenthembodiment, when the same part as the object 142 of the patient's bodyis photographed by determining the object distance by using theabovementioned object distance measurement function of the photographydevice 1M, the size of the image is the same in a comparison with thepreviously photographed image data and a comparative study then becomesextremely easy to perform.

A modified example of the photography device of the image processingsystem of the seventeenth embodiment will be described next hereinbelow.

The photography device 1M of the modified example performs photographyby means of the following processing steps. That is, previouslyphotographed image data that the user wishes to compare are designatedand the desired photography distance information is acquired from thedesignated image data and displayed on the monitor 16.

Actual photography distance information obtained when photography isperformed by the user determining an overall distance through visualmeasurement is acquired by the photography device 1M, and the scalingfactor correction coefficient is calculated from the actual photographydistance and the desired photography distance. An image of the same sizein a state where the scaling factor of the image that is actuallyphotographed is corrected based on the scaling factor correctioncoefficient is displayed.

If the user roughly sets the distance to the object 142 by using thefunction of the photography device 1M of the modified example, the useris able to observe image data of the same scaling factor as the previousimage.

Further, a display of the measurement mode above may be implemented.FIG. 98 shows a display example of the measurement mode. In thisexample, the determination of whether the respective measurement modesfor temperature detection, auscultation, pulse detection, and range arevalid is displayed on the LCD monitor 16 constituting the display meansby means of each of the icons 265, 266, 267, and 268. Naturally, thedisplay of the measurement modes is not limited to the example shown inFIG. 98.

Eighteenth Embodiment

The image processing system constituting an eighteenth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described next by using the illustration ofthe state of the examination by the system in FIG. 68. In the eighteenthembodiment, the same numerals are assigned to the parts that are thesame as those of the first to seventeenth embodiments above and adescription thereof will be omitted. Only the differences are mainlydescribed.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1N constituting an image photography section, adigitizer-equipped examination table 153, and a processing device (notillustrated) constituting an image processing section for determininghighly accurate color reproduction image data from a spectroscopic imagesignal of the object that is photographed by the photography device 1N.

The photography device 1N has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments as shownin FIG. 68. In addition, the photography device 1N has a positiondetection coil 151 constituting object part detection means fordetecting the coordinates of the photography device 1N that is builtinto the tip of the lens barrel of the photography device 1N and has anintegrated angle detection sensor 152 that uses gravity or the like todetect the attitude of the photography device 1N.

Further, the constituent elements among the constituent elements of thephotography device 1N that are the same as those of the photographydevice 1 are described by assigning the same numerals to such elements.

Furthermore, the processing device is the same as the processing device2 applied to the image processing system of the first embodiment or thelike.

It is assumed that the photography device 1N of this embodiment is usedduring an examination at a medical clinic or the like. A digitizerdevice that produces a magnetic field from a plurality of points isattached to the digitizer-equipped examination table 153 such that theposition of the detection coil 151 of the photography device 1N can bedetected and the position of the photography device 1N can be sensed. Inaddition, the direction of orientation of the photography device 1N tothe horizontality can be sensed by means of the angle detection sensor152 of the photography device 1N.

When photography is performed by means of the photography device 1N, apatient 154 constituting the object undergoing an examination isstretched out in a predetermined position on the digitizer-equippedexamination table 153. Photography is performed by the photographydevice 1N in this state and the relative positional coordinates of thephotography device 1N and the patient 154 during photography, as well asthe tilt of the photography device 1N, which is the orientation of thephotography device 1N during photography, are detected. The detectiondata are recorded together with the image data. The particular part ofthe patient that is photographed is automatically recorded based on thedetection data. Therefore, the position of the photographed affectedpart and the photography direction when image data are acquired can beconfirmed and displacement of the photographed part and variations inthe photography direction and so forth can be prevented, whereby correctimage acquisition is executed.

Nineteenth Embodiment

The image processing system of a nineteenth embodiment of the presentinvention will be described next by using the illustration showing thestate of photography by the system of FIG. 69. In the nineteenthembodiment, the same numerals are assigned to the parts that are thesame as those of the first to eighteenth embodiments above and adescription thereof will be omitted. Only the differences are mainlydescribed.

The image processing system of this embodiment comprises a photographydevice 1P constituting an image photography section, a processing device(not illustrated) constituting an image processing section fordetermining highly accurate color reproduction image data from aspectroscopic image signal of the object that is photographed by thephotography device 1P, and an examination chair 161.

The photography device 1P has substantially the same constitution asthat of the photography device 1 (FIGS. 1, 17, 21, and 37) applied tothe image processing system of the first to fourth embodiments. Inaddition, the photography device 1P has a built-in light patternprojection device (not shown) constituting object part detection meansthat projects a special light pattern onto the object. However, thelight pattern projection device may be disposed fixed to the photographydevice 1P instead of being built into the photography device 1P.

Further, the constituent elements of the photography device 1P that arethe same as those of the photography device 1 are described by assigningthe same numerals to such elements.

Furthermore, the processing device is the same as the processing device2 applied to the image processing system of the first embodiment or thelike.

A digitizer is applied in order to specify the photography position inthe eighteenth embodiment. However, in the nineteenth embodiment, thephotography part of the spectroscopic image data is specified byreferencing an image that is photographed in a state where a speciallight pattern is projected onto the patient.

That is, when photography is performed by the photography device 1P ofthe image processing system of this embodiment, a patient 162constituting the object is made to sit on the examination table 161 asshown in FIG. 69. Then, the photography device 1P is placed in aposition that allows an affected part 162 a of the patient 162 to bephotographed. Hence, light pattern having a certain characteristic isprojected onto the patient 162 by the light pattern projection deviceand the area around the affected part 162 a in the light patternprojection state is photographed temporarily in monitor mode.Spectroscopic image data are acquired by performing photography with theillumination light of the LED cluster 6X in spectroscopic image capturemode continuously without moving the photography device 1P.

The image processing system of this embodiment as described above iscapable of reliably specifying the photography position in which thespectroscopic image data are acquired by means of the projection imageof the light pattern.

Further, the photography device of the following modified example can beproposed as a modified example of the photography device of the imageprocessing system of the nineteenth embodiment.

That is, the photography device of the modified example comprises atemperature sensor used for body temperature measurement at the tip ofthe device main body, a pulse sensor for detecting the pulse, and amicrophone (sensor) for detecting Korotkov's sounds during bloodpressure measurement, respiratory sounds and the heartbeat in the chest,and intestinal murmurs of the abdomen, and has an auscultation function.In addition to object spectroscopic image data, data for the bodytemperature, pulse and heartbeat and so forth can be acquired by thesesensors. The data for the body temperature, pulse, and heartbeat, and soforth during photography of the affected part of the patient aresimultaneously saved to memory in association with the spectroscopicimage data. As a result, measurement data for the body temperature,pulse, and heartbeat and so forth measured by the sensor of thephotography device on a daily basis can be transmitted to an affiliatedmedical facility via a public switched network and, therefore elaboratehealth management at home can be implemented.

Further, a photography device constituting an image photography sectionand a processing device constituting an image processing section areprovided separately in the image processing system of each of theembodiments above but a constitution that integrates and combines boththe photography device and the processing device in a single portabledevice is naturally possible. In this case, an image processing systemresults that allows image processing operations to be performed at thesame time while performing photography, and so forth, and, depending onthe intended usage, is extremely easy to handle.

It is understood that the present invention is not limited to theembodiments above and that a variety of modifications and applicationsare possible within a scope not departing from the spirit of theinvention.

1. A camera comprising: a photography optical system which forms anobject image; an image pickup element section which outputs an imagesignal by picking up the object image formed by the photography opticalsystem; and a photography operation section which performs an imagephotography-related operation; wherein the camera is operable in aplurality of image capture modes that capture an image of the object ina plurality of different aspects; wherein the plurality of image capturemodes includes a spectroscopic image mode in which a spectroscopic imageof the object is captured; and wherein the photography operation sectioncomprises a photographic range setting section which sets a photographicrange of the object.
 2. The camera according to claim 1, wherein theplurality of image capture modes includes at least one of aspectroscopic image capture mode for capturing an object image as aspectroscopic image, and an RGB capture mode for capturing the objectimage as an RGB image.
 3. The camera according to claim 1, wherein thephotographic range setting section comprises a manual setting sectionwhich manually sets the photographic range.
 4. The camera according toclaim 1, wherein the photographic range setting section comprises anautomatic setting section which automatically sets the photographicrange.
 5. The camera according to claim 4, further comprising ameasurement procedure instruction section which instructs a measurementprocedure employing the camera; and wherein the automatic settingsection automatically sets the photographic range in accordance with themeasurement procedure instructed by the measurement procedureinstruction section.
 6. The camera according to claim 4, furthercomprising an autofocus section which measures the range to the objectand outputs AF information; and wherein the automatic setting sectionautomatically sets the photographic range in accordance with the AFinformation that is output by the autofocus section.
 7. The cameraaccording to claim 1, further comprising a remote instruction sectionwhich inputs remote instructions and which is mountable on the camera;and wherein the photographic range setting section sets the photographicrange based on instruction information relating to the photographicrange which is input via the remote instruction section.
 8. The cameraaccording to claim 1, wherein the image capture mode is set inaccordance with the photographic range set by the photographic rangesetting section.
 9. The camera according to claim 1, wherein thephotographic range setting section sets, as the photographic range, atleast two of: dental enlargement photography, full jaw photography,complexion photography, and full body photography.
 10. The cameraaccording to claim 9, wherein the spectroscopic image mode is set whenthe photographic range set by the photographic range setting section isdental enlargement photography, and a normal photographic image mode isset when the photographic range set by the photographic range settingsection is a photographic range other than dental enlargementphotography.
 11. The camera according to claim 1, wherein thephotography operation section comprises a guide section which positionsthe photographic range.
 12. The camera according to claim 11, whereinthe guide section comprises a guide display section which displays thephotographic range using at least one of text and marks.
 13. The cameraaccording to claim 1, further comprising a photographic range displaysection which displays the photographic range set by the photographicrange setting section.
 14. The camera according to claim 13, wherein thephotographic range display section displays a plurality of photographicranges that can be set by the photographic range setting section. 15.The camera according to claim 13, wherein the photographic range displaysection displays the photographic range set by the photographic rangesetting section using at least one of text and marks.
 16. The cameraaccording to claim 1, further comprising an illumination light sourcefor illuminating the object; and wherein ON/OFF operation of theillumination light source is performed in accordance with thephotographic range set by the photographic range setting section.